


Daddy's Knot

by ElegyGoldsmith



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Abduction, Alcohol, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alpha/Omega, Alternate Universe - Prostitution, Alternate Universe - Student/Teacher, Barebacking, Bathroom Sex, Begging, Breeding, Carry On Quarantine, Choking, Claiming Bites, Collars, Complete, Consensual Non-Consent, Consensual Somnophilia, Courting Ribbons, Creampie, Daddy Kink, Dark, Darkfic, Drug-Induced Sex, Drunk Sex, Drunkenness, F/M, Feral Rey (Star Wars), Force Choking (Star Wars), Forced Orgasm, Hand Feeding, Knotting, Loss of Parent(s), Masturbation, Mating Bites, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Mating Rituals, Naked Female Clothed Male, Non-Consensual Oral Sex, Non-Consensual Voyeurism, Non-Traditional Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Public Sex, Pursuit takedown & capture, Rape/Non-con Elements, Sharing a Bed, Sleep Groping, Sleeping Beauty Elements, Squirting, Sugar Daddy, Teacher-Student Relationship, Unsafe Sex, chained to the wall, consensual stalking, dubcon, knotted when the vidphone rings, nonconsensual restraint
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-04
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:15:11
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 13
Words: 71,805
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25711933
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElegyGoldsmith/pseuds/ElegyGoldsmith
Summary: Her gland pulses faintly, nudging into the soft leather strap fastened about her throat, throbbing in time with her heartbeat as she lies in the unfamiliar bed trying to prepare herself forhim. Someone she’ll never properly speak with or see in the light. A man whose name she’ll never know.Silence pours through Rey’s pricked ears, and she readjusts her head on the pillow, listening for any trace of movement.Is he even in the room? Has there been some mistake?She’s almost ready to roll over and check her phone for any last-minute messages she might’ve missed when the whispering of fabric makes her freeze.He’s here. As motionless as she’s been.Waiting.Omega Rey needs money to make her tuition payment. One night with a faceless Alpha and his twisted tastes promises to change that.
Relationships: Kylo Ren/Rey, Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 1002
Kudos: 1732
Collections: House Dadam, ReylOlds





	1. Lie Still

**Author's Note:**

> This is a darkfic, bbys! Even though it's all ultimately set in a **mostly** consensual framework, it's grey enough and there are enough potential triggers, please review them _carefully_ before reading!
> 
> I'm currently working on Chapter 15 of [Craving Kylo](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14951468/chapters/34645847) (ikr? After 2+ years of uploading here, an actual schedule! Well, gettin' there...)
> 
> **Edit:** Due to overwhelming and beloved peer pressure, I'm expanding this fic to a novel! I've added some tags in anticipation of future perviness, so please read through it to stay safe. 
> 
> And if you're still aboard, get ready for another 10 chapters of these thirsty darlings (and THANK YOU for all the encouragement, it truly means so much to me!! 😭🥰
> 
> 🖤🖤🖤
> 
>   
> 

Rey’s mouth goes dry as amber light splashes across the wall in front of her, waxing and then waning to midnight darkness again. The door shuts with a muted click — and suddenly she isn’t alone in the bedroom anymore.

Blame the outbreak. Blame the new restrictions, the cancelled scholarship that’s left her bank account perilously close to empty far too close to her tuition deadline.

Most of all blame the tantalizing offer from Kaydel, the one that promised to solve all of Rey’s financial woes if she only lets a strange man pretend to rape her in her sleep.

There have been a few catches, of course. The weaker course of blockers she agreed to take for the week leading up to the appointed night left her twitchy, jumping at every unexpected creak of the boards in her cramped apartment. Scents have become keener, tastes are richer — in short, she feels more  _ alive _ .

And horny as hell.

She’s gotten so used to her own isolation that she’d expected to find someone planted outside the front door to scold her for daring to emerge. Yet the courtyard outside her third-floor walkup was apocalyptically empty; even the street beyond was silent, only the dark sedan gliding between the bumper-to-bumper ribbons of parked vehicles, stopping precisely in front of her.

A few masked minutes and one elevator ride later she’d arrived at the sterile apartment. Everything from the tiled floor in the living room (spacious for Boston standards, microscopic anywhere else) to the very bedding was white.

Her heightened senses were surprisingly satisfied with the place’s clean scent. She’d even thrown back the covers, sniffing like a paranoid bloodhound — but it was all unblemished, and far nicer than her ratty sheets and quilt back home.

Now those same virginal blankets are tucked about her body, cradling her in the darkness as she waits for him. The intermingled aromas of citrus and sandalwood fill her nose as she shoves a fistful of the quilt against her face to stifle her panting breaths.

The sprawling bed feels like it’s tremoring with her every heartbeat, moments stretching out like taffy in the infinite darkness. 

Kaydel’s instructions were thoroughly straightforward. After arriving in the apartment Rey had showered in the immaculate bathroom, then dressed in the clean tee and boxers that she’d stuffed into her satchel this morning.

The simple leather collar was another story altogether. It’s wide but not thick, the locking mechanism hardly more than a flat rectangle of metal.

_ Chastity collar _ has always seemed like such a dreadful misnomer — after all, it’s only her mating gland it’s shielding, not her twat — but tonight she’s glad of it, relieved it’s part of the contract she signed. Especially if  _ he’s _ on watered-down blockers, too.

One night, and all her problems will be effaced. And Rey is nothing if not practical. A tight quim is absolutely no good to her if she doesn’t have a roof over her head.

Per Kay’s email, Rey had stashed the equally strange key to the collar in the box she’d found tucked away in a nondescript drawer in the bathroom vanity. 

A thrill of terror made her stomach swoop as she’d nudged the drawer shut, swiping a cleansing wipe over it where she’d touched the wood. From the way her old classmate had described it, the Alpha would be too distracted with her body to go scrounging around … but better safe than sorry.

The girl reflected in the bathroom mirror had tugged at the leather collar as Rey straightened — and she’d stopped, struck by the abrupt  _ reality _ of it all.

Her gland was covered, safe. Even if the Alpha pulled at the collar, his rut driving him to bite her, it wouldn’t come loose.

So Kaydel assured her … but Rey only felt safer after yanking at it a few more times. Gently at first, then more sharply, until she’d almost begun to panic from the odd, confining sensation.

Evidently tonight’s bringing a lot of firsts. Maybe even knotting, if the Alpha’s really hungry to get his twisted rocks off.

Her gland pulses faintly, nudging into the soft leather strap fastened about her throat, throbbing in time with her heartbeat as she lies in the unfamiliar bed, trying to prepare herself for  _ him _ . Someone she’ll never properly speak with or see in the light. A man whose name she’ll never know.

Silence pours through Rey’s pricked ears, and she readjusts her head on the pillow, listening for any trace of movement.

Is he even in the room? Has there been some mistake?

She’s almost ready to roll over and check her phone for any last-minute messages she might’ve missed when the whispering of fabric makes her freeze.

He’s here. As motionless as she’s been. 

Waiting.

Another few moments slip away, and Rey swallows hard as footsteps trace a path toward the far side of the bed, stopping behind her unprotected back.

He’s big, his footfalls heavy. Unsurprising for an Alpha, but her heart slams with warning.

He undresses quietly, only the shushing of fabric and the faint chime of his belt buckle betraying him. The burr of his zipper drawing open makes her pulse quicken to a hummingbird’s thrum, and she shoves her fist to her lips as the bed dips with his weight.

_ Position yourself in bed as you usually would. Lie still. Keep your eyes closed. Don’t say anything. Let him move your body around if he wants to. He’ll leave when he’s done. _

Rey still can’t imagine the kind of man who’d want this. Kay had assured her quite convincingly he was neither ancient nor hideous, but she isn’t prepared to be caught up in the waves of his musky scent as he slides beneath the blankets, moving closer to her but not touching.

That’s all he does at first. She’s doubly sure he’s tall, because his feet press against the mattress lower than hers by a generous margin — but he doesn’t touch her.

His warmth pools along the length of Rey’s body, and she grits her jaw, trying not to shiver. Her cunt’s fluttering with awareness, pulsing in tiny spasms, and for the thousandth time she reminds herself that  _ yes _ , she took her birth control on schedule. She’s ready for this. More or less.

She’s had sex, of course, but it was teenage fumblings with a Beta, nothing like the brutal, passionate mating she’s watched over and over on OmegaHub, her depraved watering hole of choice. It’s easier being single as the world slowly cants off its axis, keeping focused on her academics rather than things like drinking and dating — the sentinels of a bygone collegiate era — and her Evil Dragon toys have always serviced her needs uncomplainingly.

But now she needs money, and some horny Alpha needs an Omega pussy wrapped around his cock. It’s a simple matter of supply and demand, like any good game balance.

The request for her to wear a Corellia University tee is mildly perverse, but she’d rather the anonymous man ask her to wear the colors of her undergrad alma mater than something satin or frilly. Now the thin cotton heats as he moves closer, twisting onto his side behind her.

She can hear him breathing, feel his heart pounding a tattoo into the bed in counterpoint to hers. His scent surrounds her, kindling a spark of something old. Something more ancient than memory.

The nape of her neck prickles as he nuzzles into her hair. His breath coasts along the shell of her ear, embossing goosebumps along her skin.

Rey scrunches her eyes shut even tighter, the blankets hot against her lips as she pants with … terror? Excitement? In her heightened state she can’t tell the difference. The hungry ache in her sex is clamoring for the man even as her mind fears his touch.

The Alpha’s hand skims over the quilt, following the curve of her waist and alighting on her hip. The mattress bows again as he scoots closer, and Rey bites back a gasp as his legs crook into the backs of her thighs and calves, his bare skin livid against hers. A low rumble shakes the man’s chest, and even through the quilt’s rich weight she can feel his fingers splaying on her hip.

It feels like he’s wearing a t-shirt and boxers, too, but Rey’s distracted from his sudden encroachment — his legs, his hand, his breath in her hair. He moves flush with her, pressing the firm, warm ribbon of his roused cock into her from her tailbone up to the small of her back.

_ Fuck _ , it feels like a huge stone cradled between their bodies, not  _ part _ of him.

The Alpha nudges against her harder, rolling his hips in languid waves and grunting softly as he rubs his erection along the globe of her ass. She clamps her thighs together, fighting a frisson of brilliance that darts through her cunt each time he drags along her.

The quilt shifts against her side. His scalding palm flashes over the gap between the hem of her tee and the waistband of her boxers as he reclaims her hip beneath the Egyptian cotton sheet.

The hulking Alpha stills for a time, long enough to let her get used to his closeness. His forefinger traces a few shallow circles into the hollow of her hip before pushing higher, his hand flattening against her abdomen and sliding up to catch her bare breast under her shirt.

It’s so  _ wrong _ that she’s grateful to simply lie there. He cages her soft flesh, spiraling one fingertip about her areola and the hard bud of her nipple, rubbing the stiff peak as his length throbs against her ass.

The man’s breaths are faster, throatier — and Rey’s head rises as he negotiates his crooked arm beneath her pillow, nestling closer about her like a boyfriend. His other hand moves to her untouched breast, claiming it even more hungrily than the first, kneading it with practiced fingers.

A pale whimper works its way out of Rey’s throat as his hand skims lower, and he freezes. Her cunt aches with sickening hunger, and she forces herself to relax, biting the edge of the quilt until he slowly shifts again, gradually working the waistband of her boxers down to bare the swells of her cheeks.

He grunts softly as he lifts his hips, withdrawing and fumbling behind her in the darkness. His erection thuds solidly against her ass, springing free as he shoves his own boxers down — and then he’s naked against her skin, the thick rectangle of his bared cock burning her derriere like the sun.

“Fuck,” the man murmurs, his voice low and husky with need.

His rigid sex strains against her skin, resistance easing as his precum greases her.

Then he prints a gentle kiss on her neck in the crescent between the neck of her tee and the curve of her collar. His hand sweeps up against her ass, catching his cock in his hand, and he fits his dull head into the furrow where her thighs meet.

The first dreamy thrust parts her folds, and he rumbles with delight as he finds the pool of slick that’s long since begun trickling out of her, nudging along the length of her slit without actually penetrating her. 

Her fingers bite into the quilt as he surges against her sex, coating his length with her nectar. The iron heat of his shaft is unrelenting as it crowds up into her secret crux, thick and twitching with feverish need.

He twists his hips, pushing higher as his ridges strike her clit, nearly making her groan from the electric pleasure that crackles through her belly — but it’s still another few inches of torture before his hips are flush with her rump. Then he recedes, drawing himself back through her crease until his drenched knob nearly pops free.

The Alpha flexes his hips again, urging himself against the places Rey herself touches only rarely. He cups her tit, slipping his other arm lower to snake about her waist, anchoring her body to his as his caresses become sterner.

She’s  _ his _ .

Rey knows she’s trembling, but he doesn’t seem to notice — or care. He’s too distracted forcing himself against her dripping sex, gasping shallowly as he chastely splits her.

The Alpha contents himself with that for a time, grinding his roused cock through her folds as the waist of his boxers scrapes the backs of her thighs.

Rey’s shaken by how ready her body is for him, how willingly she surrenders herself to riding his wet, searing lancet as he grunts with barely-slaked lust. Maybe because it’s easier like this, not having to face him. Her primal yearning for him is despicable enough; her skin ripples, strangely itchy, only soothed in the places his skin cradles hers.

Then, abruptly, the man stops, negotiating himself out from between her legs and rolling away.

Rey scowls with worry as the bed shakes, the sound of fabric gliding against skin behind her. He’s stripping out of his t-shirt and boxers — or must be, because when he lies back and draws her into his embrace again, his magma-hot skin claims her whole body unbroken by clothing.

His scent is stronger now, too, the honeyed spice of his musk making her head spin drunkenly. She nearly yips as his fingers close on her waistband, tugging her boxers down until he can unloop them from her ankles, and then he’s rolling her onto her back.

She goes limp, letting him work the edge of the blanket out of her fingers. Her eyes instinctively open as he shoves the hem of her t-shirt up to her chin, baring her breasts, but the room is blessedly dark as ink. He can’t see whatever strange expressions she must be making as his long fingers press against the insides of her thighs, prying her open.

“Lie still,” he whispers throatily, and she tries to make her muscles soften as he pushes her legs apart. 

The soft hair of his balls tickles her hip as he limbs over her to kneel between her splayed thighs — and though she’s expecting to feel his weight press her down, her stomach tenses violently as he lays a kiss in the soft valley between her hips.

Rey twists her head to the side, biting the pillow to choke back moans as the faceless Alpha presses another kiss into her, lower than the first, and continues to sink down, tracing a slow, wet line down to the rise of her mound. 

His arms wind around her thighs, anchoring her to him, and his kisses turn to deliberate licking as he reaches her already-soaked pussy and nuzzles into her. His stubbled jaw abrades her sex as he sucks her clit — and Rey’s skin trembles, itchy as her mating gland throbs wantonly in its leather prison.

How’s she supposed to stay silent and still when he’s torturing her like this?

The sounds are ghastly, sloppy and wet, and Rey grits her jaw as the man swirls his tongue about the sensitive bundle of nerves at her apex before sucking at her again. Beads of her own slick trace tickling paths down the inner curves of her ass, and her fingernails prick her palms as she clenches her fists in unvoiced agony.

Five thousand dollars. Security for the next few months, safety amid the storm.

It’s worth enduring this torment.

At length the Alpha moves higher again, wiping the sandpaper of his unshaved jaw against her belly and uncoiling his arms from about her thighs, slithering higher to cover her body with his considerably larger one.

Her heart thuds in her throat. It’s time. 

Even her Beta boyfriend in high school had worn a condom, but tonight there won’t be the rip of a foil wrapper, or the familiar scent of spermacidal lube.

The extra two grand to let him raw her was the final compromise. The bonus she needed to stay afloat.

Now it’s time for Rey to make good.

He props himself up on his elbows, the bony prominences of his hips digging into the underside of her ass as he aligns himself with her slit. He takes his time, masturbating himself along the most private part of her body, threatening to dip into her only to push past her wet, hungry hollow in the crack of his jaw gritting tight.

His fingers twirl in her hair like stream eddies, his every labored breath stirring her skin. For whatever reason, he’s teasing himself as much as he’s teasing her, delighting in riding the harrowing edge.

She  _ wants _ him. At least the animal part of her does, the new Rey that’s coming awake under the course of diluted blockers.

The Alpha hesitates, his harsh breaths luffing into her as his cockhead finally finds her verge, treading on the brink.

Then he starts to thrust.

A trembling murmur bursts past Rey’s lips as he penetrates her, but the man doesn’t stop. Only clamps his hand over her lips as he pushes into her.

There’s a faint moment’s relief after he fits his head inside her, but his phallus is thicker again, burning and pulsing as he plunges deeper, his girth stretching her open even wider than her toys. Her hips twitch with the effort of taking him, and his fingers tighten against her mouth as though he’s anticipating more resistance as he forces himself deeper into her slickened core.

He’s so big.

_ So _ big.

She never knew she could be this overwhelmed. This  _ full _ of a man.

The Alpha rocks his hips, rutting into her in short, violent thrusts until he’s fully claimed her. He bottoms out so hard that Rey’s left panting into his fingers, spine arching, fingers knotted in the sheets.

“Shh, go back to sleep, Omega,” he croons quietly, flexing into her a scant few millimeters only to ebb, drawing shallow circles with his hips as his cheek scrapes hers. “See? Pass out drunk at a party and this is what you get — a cuntful of strange cock. But I’ll take care of you from now on.”

Ah, so  _ that’s _ what he wants. She twists her head aside, playing into it and pretending to moan sleepily as his incursions become sharper, deeper, harder.

He nuzzles into the curve of her neck, alternately sucking her earlobe and teasing it with his teeth until her channel clenches around his swollen shaft, charming moans from his lips.

“Naive little babygirl, left all alone to be fucked…” He clutches her thigh, drawing it up against his waist as he buries himself in her with agonizing slowness. He lingers at her terminus, a thunderous rumble reverberating through his chest as he strains into her. “Daddy’s gonna protect you, precious. No one gets to fuck this tight pussy from now on but me.”

No sooner have the ragged words left his lips than she feels him thickening, his knot popping inside her with inexorable force. The rapturous ache overwhelms her mind, the interplay of pain and pleasure so perfectly aligned that even words flit away, and she keens with need.

“Go back to sleep, babygirl — Daddy’s got you,” he growls.

_ Daddy’s knot, Daddy’s knot, Daddy’s knot _ , the dark, sick part of her chants, reveling in the inescapable, masochistic bliss.

Her body’s made to take this — but just as the leather collar made her gut plummet with terror, the twinned sensations of his knot swelling inside her pussy and her aperture tightening about him making her muscles coil strangely. 

They’re locked together.

_ Daddy’s knot, Daddy’s knot... _

He rears higher on his knees, lifting her hips enough to slip his arms around her waist and under her back. The slight change in angle opens her even more — and between the rhythmic tugging of his full-bloom knot at the edge of her pussy and the pounding of his dull, thick head against her cervix, she’s lost.

“Messy little girl,” he grunts as he ruts into her. He feels like he’s growing even more with each ecstatic pang. “ _ Fuck _ , you’re so wet and so tight for me … I could rape you all night and still have loads to give you…”

_ Daddy’s knot, Daddy’s knot, Daddy oh fuck _ —

Rey can’t stop the brilliant edge from claiming her, and she trembles as the orgasm rips through her body, setting her nerves alight with sterling fire.

The Alpha twitches, his movement becoming spasmodic, and then he’s coming, too, a strangled groan shuddering through his huge chest. His knot pulses as his hot spend floods into her, but he doesn’t stop, merely slows for a few aching strokes as he presses his forehead to her cheek.

Warning thrums through her gut as he licks the hollow of her neck, straying dangerously close to her mating gland.

“I could cut this off your body and mate you right now,” the Alpha whispers, his breaths cool against her wet skin. His knot throbs insistently in the base of her belly, refusing to let her go. “You wouldn’t even be able to fight me. You might even beg me to do it.”

Violent itching unfurls through her body in a wave, her gland throbbing into the wide leather ribbon like it can understand his blasphemous words. The thing’s so fucking swollen with need that she finds herself leaning into him as he traces the line of the chastity collar with his tongue. 

Her pussy wrings at his knot, milking out more drops of his fiery essence.

“I’ve got more for you, sweetheart,” the Alpha mumbles into her skin, his lips teasing her jaw. “ _ So _ much more… I’m gonna fill you up.”

He begins to move again, bucking into her in punctuated thrusts, withdrawing only as far as his knot will allow. One hand fists her hair again, holding her down as the other explores her breasts, pushing her nipples up to meet his ravenous lips.

Rey’s distantly, perversely proud that she can take all of the Alpha in the throes of his dark hunger, even if her muscles are strained and white-hot from his pounding intrusions. His breaths are raw with need as he pumps inside her, twitching each time he hits her cervix.

_ Daddy Daddy Daddy... _

Rey whimpers softly again, and his cock twitches at the sound. He buries his hands in her hair, and the flat of his tongue paints another wet stripe along the edge of the chastity collar, flicking underneath to graze the barest edge of her mating gland.

“You’re being such a good girl for me, baby,” he rasps. “I wish I could chew this off you with my fucking teeth, make you mine forever …  _ god _ I fucking want to…”

He breaks off, fucking her more roughly, his tempo quickening in time with his renewed need. The way her body responds to him is positively loathesome, craving his rough touch as he ravages her and draws alien pleasure through her body as though he knows it better than Rey herself.

It’s monstrous. Awful. Beautiful.

A guttural cry tears itself out of her as the second orgasm claims her, and he’s straining into her in the next moment, gasping as more of his feverish seed bathes her cunt.

The Alpha collapses on her, spent and panting with his release. A few more spurts of his cum throb into Rey’s wrecked cunt, and he twitches as he quiets.

That’s it, then — she’s done it. Whored herself out for her education, utterly and literally.

Should she feel so disappointed that his knot’s receding, his desperate longing purged so soon?

Perhaps it’s for the best. Her quim is sore — and she winces as he negotiates his purged sex out of hers after a few too-short minutes tangled together, extracting himself gingerly as though worried he’s going to hurt her.

She lies in the darkness in silence, not sure what to say — if anything — as the man dresses. A handheld light flashes around the dark room as he gathers his things, belt buckle jangling as he refastens his pants. 

She rolls onto her back as his footfalls trace their way back to the door, slitting her eyes against the soft light from without slices through the darkness.

All she catches as he turns back is a flash of raven hair and deep, sorrowful eyes. Eyes that she feels like she knows from somewhere, but can’t place.

Then the door clicks shut and he’s gone, leaving only a trace of his scent and his cum still hot in her womb.

* * *

It’s a week to the day when the Alpha’s musky, spiced scent finds Rey again.

It makes no sense. 

To her immense surprise, she doesn’t regret the things that passed between her and the anonymous Alpha. Her tuition is paid up, after all, and every time she reflects on the experience, her only lingering disappointment is that he’d left so quickly.

Strange as it seems, she’d wanted  _ more _ of him. More of the ancient voice that clamored to be his, to suffer the beautiful agony and the strange obsession with taking his rut. His knot.

She certainly didn’t expect for his aroma to envelop her in a heady cloud as she’s standing in the Registrar’s Office, improbably finding its way to her through her Metroid mask.

It’s a flashback. It  _ must _ be. 

Kaydel warned that the weaker blockers can sometimes have strange aftereffects — and Rey grits her jaw in irritation at the sudden dampness between her thighs. Her panties will be wrecked before she gets back to her apartment; she’ll have to splurge on a rideshare or risk dripping all over herself if she chances the walk back home.

She hurries up to the clerk’s window as soon as she reaches the front of the line — but as she opens her mouth to speak, the young man’s eyes light on something above and behind her shoulder.

“Professor Solo!” The clerk’s gaze flicks back to Rey’s, and even before his next words she knows she’s been dismissed. “I’m sorry, miss, would you mind stepping aside? Faculty have priority access.”

It’s bullshit. Fury flares in her gut, and she spins to give the interloper a piece of her mind — but then she’s numbstruck by those eyes. Improbable but unflinching under the office’s fluorescent lights.

Rey’s heart thuds sickeningly.

Now she knows where she’s seen that dark honey gaze before: in his department headshot on the Jakku College Graduate Division’s webpage.

Professor Benjamin Solo. Renowned game theory professor … and as of a few days ago, Rey’s new thesis advisor.

“Never mind, Dopheld.” She knows the Alpha’s speaking to the clerk behind the counter, but drops of Omega slick trickle along her inner thighs as his gaze transfixes her over his shadow-dark mask. “Something’s come up.”

Rey’s neck prickles with warning — and this time there’s nothing to protect her mating gland as it throbs with wicked lust.


	2. Don't Make a Sound

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The idea of falling for a sex worker had been awkward enough, like transference with a therapist — but realizing she was truly a student, and his student at that…
> 
> _His_ student. _His_ Rey.
> 
> Ben’s cock throbs, viciously demanding he throw her down in the middle of this ostentatious throng, ruck up her skirt and knot her raw. He can all too easily imagine the shocked faces, the screams. _Her_ screams best of all, throaty and guttural as she begs him to stop but it’s too late...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Per popular demand (and because I loved writing the first chapter so much!) here we go!! Professor Solo tempts fate, and runs into the one person he both dreads and can't wait to see...
> 
> **Please read the tags, because this is getting darker as we go!**
> 
> I'm trying to post weekly Sunday updates on [my blog](https://www.elegygoldsmith.com/blog) so that folx can see what's on deck — but if you'd like to stay posted on all my works, you can subscribe to me here on AO3 🖤
> 
> Huge thanks to my dear fren [Michelle](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mveazli) for beta reading this chapter! Her slow-burn Omegaverse story [Take My Heart Again](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24887488/chapters/60216313) is up to Chater 9 (!!!), and I can't wait to read what comes next 👀
> 
> **Recent updates:**  
>  CRAVING KYLO | Programmer Rey Jakkusen agrees to become the BDSM submissive of tech titan Kylo Ren — but can she fulfill her contract without losing her heart?  
> 🖤 [Chapter 15 | Bark & Bight](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14951468/chapters/63106786) is live as 17 August 2020
> 
> **On deck:**  
>  ALLIANCE | Fiery swordswoman Khthonia and eccentric, grompy bounty hunter Raz are well on their way to Riverfall, but echoes of the past and an unexpected kiss make their tentative partnership more complicated than ever.  
> 🖤 [Chapter 6 | Scars](https://archiveofourown.org/works/25197892/chapters/62947708) is live as of 14 August 2020  
> 🖤 Chapter 7 | Hidden will be live as of 28 August 2020
> 
>   
> 

She won’t come. There’s no way in  _ hell _ she’ll come.

Ben can feel the headache crawling up through the iron lock of his clenched jaw, but he can’t convince his body to relax. Every new figure that appears in the doorway demands his attention, making his chin snap around so violently that the muscles in his neck strain and burn.

But it’s never her. Not yet, anyhow.

_ Social distancing _ . He snorts derisively, scanning the torches ringing the wide patio and the too-close clumps of people herded within. It’s like the masque of the goddamn red death, Jakku College-style. Only the pompous Digital Media Division and the college’s equally pompous chancellor would consider exiling the annual welcome mixer to the courtyard a reasonable alternative to cancelling it outright.

The greed of it all disgusts him. The deft way the school works both sides, flaunting its bright new acquisitions to charm money out of alumni, even as the incoming class are essentially paying for the privilege of attending this sleek soiree.

Ben wouldn’t be here himself if attendance wasn’t compulsory for faculty. No — that’s a lie. He knows it even as half his mind tries to convince the other half it was the chancellor’s stern email and not the hope of seeing  _ her _ that convinced him to come.

Ever since That Night he hasn’t been able to stop thinking about those wide, soft caramel eyes gazing up at him, her ravaged body framed by the light pouring through the door as he held it open — and then again in the Registrar’s Office before she bolted like a startled doe…

Ben’s molars crack with tectonic force as he grits his jaw, but the gesture only makes the incessant itch writhing through his skin less bearable. Low-dose blockers have never been a problem for him before — but then, he’d never paid for sex before, either. And he’d  _ definitely _ never indulged his darkest, most hideous fantasy, not even with a sex worker.

Ever since then the remembrance of her body beneath his has been humming in the back of his mind, a lustful frequency he can never fully tune out.

Maybe that’s why he’s so damn agitated tonight. It’s bad enough being trapped here and trotted around every few minutes like a prize pony ( _ Have you met Professor Solo? Why yes, he  _ is _ a consulting producer on the  _ Starkiller _ franchise, isn’t it immersive? _ ), but knowing that invariably they’re going to run into each other again, and  _ soon _ — she’s one of his teaching assistants, for fuck’s sake—

It’s agonizing waiting for the axe to fall.

Another new arrival pops into the doorway, and Ben rakes his fingers through his hair, trying to disguise the way his whole frame jerks as the punch of adrenaline hits his bloodstream. 

The full-body twitch draws odd looks from a few people standing nearby, and he skulks further along the courtyard’s periphery, taking up a position between two torches in the closest approximation of shadows he can find. As per usual tonight, his body’s betrayed him over nothing; it’s just another unfamiliar face half-swathed by a mask, the new arrival’s height and build all wrong to be a tiny, curvy girl in a Corellia University tee.

Not that she’d wear that kind of thing  _ here _ , of course. The fall mixer’s always a swanky affair, but after a summer in quarantine everyone’s dusted off satins and silks and platinum wristwatches to preen from vantages of seventy-ish inches apart.

Usually Ben can hide away in another room during social engagements, but that kind of opportunity belongs to the old world. The world before the virus. Now even seeking refuge in the restroom seems a chancy bet, primarily since it’s inside, but doubly so given the number of noses hanging out of masks at this assemblage.  _ Dicknosers _ , Armie calls that special brand of morons — and the irreverent thought’s enough to make Ben’s lips curve beneath his own cotton shield.

He’s staring off into the dark sanctuary of the surrounding manzanitas when his spine seizes like that of a transforming werewolf. He knows even before turning that she’s coming, that she’ll be there in the doorway by the time he finishes his one-eighty — but the actual  _ sight  _ of her hovering on the threshold, uncertain and alone, makes his head buzz as the electrical hum at the back of his skull becomes deafening.

The sundress is a waterfall of white lace that cascades along her body in angular tiers, a wide, flat band accentuating the hourglass curve of her waist. The fabric demurely hides the swells of her breasts, but the halter neckline is the cruelest part of all, framing the elegant column of skin that’s bared. Naked. Mocking him.

His heart thuds a fierce tattoo as he stares at her. His tongue is dry even as his mouth floods, ancient instinct and intention crackling through his dazzled mind like lightning.

He’d wanted to bite her then. Wanted to tear that damn collar off with his teeth, taste salty leather giving way to her supple, live-wire skin … and then it’d be just one single pop of his teeth to claim her, make her  _ his _ Omega, now and forever… 

She finds who she’s looking for in the crowd, and her eyes crinkle with relief. She must be smiling as she moves forward to greet them, the lightweight fabric making it seem like she’s floating.

It’s just another student — and Ben relaxes ever-so-slightly as the two young women greet each other from an awkward distance. Too close for anything but friends, yet platonic enough that they half-wave at each other, excited but still observing some perfunctory formalities.

He watches her, staring at wavy tendrils of her brunette hair that cling to her neck in the late summer heat. The torches aren’t helping; Ben’s back shivers as a bead of sweat traces an icy path between his shoulder blades. It can’t be the first, because his undershirt’s starting to stick, but he shoves the awareness of it away, sipping the gin and tonic that’s quickly going warm in his hand.

_ Rey Niima _ . Even across the flagstone patio he can scent her, and the taste of her body unfurls over his tongue, an exotic flavor reminiscent of apricots.

He should never have opened the door to that shadowed, sick hunger. He hadn’t expected to make her come, but he’d brought her to the brink with surprising ease, her sweet, delicious pussy convulsing for him not once but  _ twice _ .

It was probably fair that she’d fled from him in the Registrar’s office. Hadn’t he done the same, leaving her in the room where he’d so brazenly defiled her without so much as a word?

The idea of falling for a sex worker had been awkward enough, like transference with a therapist — but realizing she was truly a student, and  _ his _ student at that…

_ His _ student.  _ His _ Rey.

Ben’s cock throbs, viciously demanding he throw her down in the middle of this ostentatious throng, ruck up her skirt and knot her raw. He can all too easily imagine the shocked faces, the screams.  _ Her _ screams best of all, throaty and guttural as she begs him to stop but it’s too late...

He turns away, shoving his free hand into his pocket to tuck his burgeoning erection to the left, camouflaging the rock-hard thing in the folds of his pants, Or so he hopes — though he wouldn’t be surprised if the troublesome thing strains his trousers to the brink.  _ Have you met Professor Solo and his monstrous Alpha cock? _ probably isn’t the kind of intro Chancellor Palpatine plans on giving.

When he turns back she’s gone, her friend is talking to another cluster of new entries.

Anger flares in Ben’s chest like the sun, setting fire to his heart and making his racing pulse whistle in his ears as he scans the crowd. His palms itch for the feeling of a windpipe to crush — he’ll fuck up whoever dared to lay a finger on her—

Just as suddenly as the primal instinct claims his mind he masters it. Or maybe it’s just that he finds her again, angled differently and a few feet away, but safe and sound.

Well, relatively. Like any lost butterfly she’s blundered into a snare, this one the harmless if tedious web of Division Chair Snoke. She nods animatedly, seemingly engaged with whatever he’s droning on about — and his breath catches in his throat as their heads simultaneously turn toward him.

_ Fuck _ . 

This is it, the moment he’s been dreading and literally dreaming of, and he’s standing here with a giant hard-on, gland starting to tingle with hunger for her lips as she glides toward him like a callipygian nymph.

He gulps down another swig of lime-laced bubbles, half-choking as he tries to swallow and breathe all at once.

Then she’s there in front of him, those amber eyes trapping him as the decrepit old man stops between them, a wizened bridge.

“Solo, I‘ve found one of yours running around… This is Miss, er—”

Ben clenches his jaw tight enough to crush diamonds. How can Snoke have forgotten her name in the twenty-step walk across the patio?

“—Niima, Professor Solo,” the girl mercifully supplies. Her eyes flicker with something that can only be fear as she gazes up at him, fingertips dancing over each other at her waist as she wrings her hands. “I’m one of your teaching assistants, actually.”

“Nice to meet you,” he offers gruffly, the words rote.

Snoke bumbles on about  _ Starkiller _ and Ben’s  _ Storyteller of the Decade _ award from Game Informer, parroting the chancellor almost to the syllable, but Ben doesn’t hear any of it. The world and everything in it has been blown away, faded to watercolor by the very nearness of her, the fact that she’s here, that she’s  _ now _ , that she’s with him again.

He knows he’s staring, but he’s riveted — and she’s not looking away, either, but returning his gaze full force. There’s fear in her honeyed eyes, yes, and maybe it’s only his warped hopes but it looks like the frozen terror of a prey-beast. A fierce hope and wanting that rivals his own.

His skin blazes with the intensity of her stare, itching and crawling as he fights to stay human. Stay himself, the reserved Professor Solo that colleagues like Armie don’t truly know, much as they try to convince themselves otherwise.

The irony. She knows him most intimately of all, and even though he’s burning for her, he can’t let it show — even as his mating gland twitches rebelliously, the ancient voice at the back of his mind demanding that he shatter thousands of years of self-mastery and societal norms to claim her.

Snoke’s doddering voice falters, and Ben realizes they’re both staring at him now, the beautiful masked girl and the octogenarian.

Shit.

He takes another pull from his drink as he stares at her, buying himself another few seconds to pick up whatever social cue he missed, but the drink doesn’t slake his thirst. Only _ she _ can do that. “So have you identified a focus you’d like to pursue, Miss Niima?”

She blinks, startled. “Um, y-yes. Alternate reality games.”

“I see.”

“I just— It was  _ The Golden Army _ — um, the Hellboy movie?” Her eyes are fucking sparkling. How is that even possible? “They ran this brilliant campaign when I was a kid, you could submit evidence and stuff online. There was live chat support and everything, so as of then, I was pretty well hooked.”

A pink flush creeps around her mask and down her neck, following a bead of sweat that alights in the hollow of her throat. A corresponding shiver runs along his spine from the humid night; at least her backless dress probably feels cooler than his sticky suit — and the thought of the tapestry of her naked back unscrolling before him as he fucks her on all fours, cradling her hips against his with one arm and bracing them both up with his other—

“I-I see,” Ben mutters again, trying to ignore the pressure of his trousers against his ragingly erect cock. Thank fucking god the hem of his suit coat should be hanging over it — but this is insufferable. The sweet, crystallized-fruit scent of her body’s stronger with every passing moment, and as their gazes lock again he licks his lips, like that’s somehow going to help quench him.

Her neck twitches, and he knows without knowing that she feels it, too.

That soft fluttering of her skin just  _ there _ nearly undoes him. The sensitive patch of skin is barely the size of a quarter, but just knowing that it’s aching for him, that she feels some shred of this volcanic desire—

“Excuse me,” he grits out, and twists his massive frame to slip past her without touching. The peachy softness of her skin would trigger god-knows-what kind of reaction, and manners be damned he strides toward the door.

A few minutes ago the bathroom inside the adjacent building seemed like the unsafest place around, but now it’s a refuge, and blessedly empty. 

Ben hunches at the sink, scowling into the mirror as he tugs his collar aside far enough to see his own neck — and the patch of skin is pink and swollen, more incriminating even than Hester Prynne’s letter.

He dashes cold water over his face, but it’s nowhere near icy enough to douse the ember that’s burning deep inside him, begging for release. If he hadn’t taken the weaker blockers to enjoy his fantasy more completely this wouldn’t have happened — but now he’s painfully hard, his body aching for the Omega’s nubile flesh.

He’ll have to sneak out. Damn the chancellor and his snarky email, there’s no way Ben can trust himself around her. Not like this.

He’s shouldered the swinging door open an inch when he hears her soft alto on the other side, timbre strained with worry.

“—know you’re busy, and you’re probably not going to get this until it’s too late, but please… Rosie doesn’t want to leave, she just got here and wants to network, so I—” Her voice cracks. “—I need your help.”

It’s the wrong goddamn word — or the right one.

_ Babygirl needs help, needs protection  _ —  _ go SAVE HER _ —

He shoves the door wide and she’s there in the alcove between the men’s and women’s restroom doors, shoulders hunched and both arms bent up against her chest as she presses the cell to her ear.

She goes completely still when she sees him. Her eyes are red-rimmed, brimming with tears that match the desperation in her voice.

“...Okay, um, call me if you get this.” She clicks off, awkwardly slipping the phone back into the waistband of her dress, keeping the other arm crooked up, hand cupped over her neck. Covering herself  _ there _ .

Her gaze doesn’t flinch from his — but as she blinks, a single tear spills down her cheek, leaving a rivulet that he instinctively wants to smooth away with his thumb.

Astonishingly, she unhooks her mask from around her ears, and the shame inscribed on her features makes Ben ache like he’s being strangled. She slowly peels her other hand away from her neck, and the frozen breath gushes past his lips as he sees her gland again, scarlet and swollen, standing out even worse than his own.

And she doesn’t even have a collared shirt to hide it.

“I can’t go back out there like this,” she whispers, her voice trembling with sobs.

She needs relief.

Rey.  _ His _ Rey.

Ben moves like he’s in a dream, closing the distance between their bodies in a few easy strides. He assesses the corridor in a single charged moment; they’re alone, out of sight of the crush of poorly-distanced human peacocks.

Before he even knows what he’s doing he’s ripping his own mask off and shoving it in his suit pocket. His arms are around her in the next instant, her mouthwatering scent enfolding him just as powerfully as he drags her into the men’s room.

Guilt screams through his mind as he kicks door shuts behind them, and she struggles feebly in his arms. “What are you—”

“Giving you what you need, Omega,” he growls.

She’s hardly even fighting him, just plucking weakly at his arm as he hauls her into the stall that’s deepest in the heart of the stale chamber and closes the door behind them, locking it with a savage twist.

“You can’t,” she pants, twisting her head around to look up at him as he catches her hips, imprisoning her in front of him. Her eyes are wild, glazed with need even as she fights to escape. “No— not here,  _ please _ —”

He claws the hem of her dress up to her thighs and heaves her up against him so that her feet lash against empty air. The layered lace obeys his touch, and by the time he’s wrested her down to kneel on the toilet seat it's bunched up around her hips.

“ _ No _ ,” Rey weeps — but she braces herself against the shallow alcove inset in the wall as fingertips find the line of her panties, like she’s resigned to what’s coming. The word only sends another hot flush through his sex, making his balls tighten with need.

The bikini-cut bottoms are careworn, the elastic lace trim riddled with holes — and that turns him on even more than the Corellia University shirt and boxers he’d demanded of the agency. Of  _ her _ .

Ben sinks to his knees in the cramped stall, dragging the panties down just far enough to bare her sex. She tries to rear up and away from him, but his hands are there, claiming the flaring bell of her hips and yanking her back to meet his face.

Her high-pitched gasp makes his blood thrill, and he nuzzles into her pussy, drinking in the sweet nectar that’s already begun to trickle from her fragrant cleft.

She tastes as good as he remembers. Better, even — and he tugs her back harder, forcing her down onto his face as she squirms and sighs. He licks deeper, circling her soaking hollow and flicking the tip of his tongue over the sensitive, swollen bud of her clit until her moans grow throatier and his gland throbs greedily.

“I need— need something inside—” she whimpers.

_ Give baby what she needs, and she needs her Alpha…  _

She’s practically riding his face, but Ben tightens his grip on her hips with one hand and traces a line down over the globe of her ass with the other. He sinks two fingers into her, stroking her warm, wet walls as they tighten and release in time with her quickening groans.

God, he wants her. He  _ needs _ to feel her wrapped around him again, deeper and tighter than this.

The men’s restroom door squeaking open makes Rey try to jerk up and away from him, but he’s faster, lashing his arm around her hips and yanking her back down to impale her on his fingers. Interloper or no, he’s not going to let her run off in this state to get fucked by some other Alpha.

It’s  _ his _ dick she needs.

His chin digs into her bare back, rising and falling with her panicked breaths — and he sheathes his fingers in her again, savoring the way she trembles around him.

“Don’t make a sound,” Ben breathes into her spine as shoes squeak against the chill tile floor. 

He knows she hears him because the fall of her glossy hair shifts as she nods, and he prints a soft kiss into one of the dimples at the base of her spine.

More footsteps, louder as the door swings shut again. Only one person struts around the campus so haughtily, and Ben’s thoroughly unsurprised to hear the man’s nasal voice. “Solo, are you in here?”

_ Palpatine _ . Curse the chancellor’s uncanny ability to interfere. Ben had heard the rumors before signing his contract with Jakku College, but this intrusion is enough to heat his already-livid blood.

_ Protect babygirl, give what she needs _ —

He won’t let the other man ruin this for Rey — and he certainly won’t let her get caught fucking her academic advisor the night before term starts.

“Chancellor Palpatine, is that you?” Thank fuck his voice is already gravelly enough to believe it’s been wrecked by stomach acid. He forces out a ragged cough, and Rey writhes in his grip as he strokes inside her again, hooking a third finger into her as she struggles. “Must’ve been that breakfast sandwich, I’m not feeling so great—”

“Oh.” He can almost hear Palpatine leaning over as he finds the soles of Ben’s good shoes sticking out from under the stall door. “Oh, I see. That  _ is _ unfortunate.”

“Yeah,” Ben rumbles, surging into Rey with his fingers and letting his pinkie graze her clit as she presses a hand to her mouth.

“But your temperature was normal at the door?” 

“Yeah, it was.” Ben draws his fingers out of Rey’s cunt so languidly that violent shivers rack her frame. He pulls himself to his feet, lifting Rey’s hips up from her heels as he rises, and kicks the toilet handle, using the roar of water to quietly unfasten his belt. “Like I said, probably food poisoning or something.”

“Dreadful, dreadful,” Palpatine tuts as the cascade of water quiets. 

His cock aches pleasantly as he frees it from the humid fabric of his boxer briefs, and he grits his teeth as his hot length bounces against her spit-sticky ass. The chancellor was undoubtedly planning on showing Ben off as he’s been doing at every opportunity this summer, but Ben’s babygirl —  _ Rey _ , he reminds himself through the haze of must — needs him more. 

“If it’s not contagious, I don’t suppose you might be able to … er … bear up?” the old man presses.

“I don’t think so.” Rey’s still got one hand clamped to her lips, and she twitches her head in a quick shake — yet when he feeds his thick shaft into the triangle of welcoming space above the waistband of her panties and between her thighs she sways. The half-lost girl instinctively rocks along his stony phallus, making him twitch up against her harder. “Please give my apologies to the alumni.”

Her folds are so slick it’s like grinding along a stolen angel as his length pries her open and he rubs into her, skin to skin. Precum leaks from his cockhead, and he smears it along her dripping slit, not letting himself penetrate her yet.

He will, though. Soon enough he’ll give her the release she needs.

“I’m sure they’ll be disappointed,” Palpatine huffs, no doubt furious to be thwarted. “Do feel better, Solo.”

“ _ Yes _ ,” Ben groans, thrusting his cock along the helpless, half-stunned girl’s pussy as she fights to balance herself on the toilet seat. The hem of her dress tickles his balls, but even that can’t distract him from her welcoming heat as he splays her and forces himself against her.

She’s almost ready.

The imperious footfalls make their way back toward the door, and the tension’s already begun to ease in Rey’s body when Palpatine pulls the door open and stops, the noise from without distinctly louder. “Oh, and Solo?”

“Yes, sir?”

“Have you seen that student of yours, the one Snoke was monopolizing?”

Rey goes utterly still. All the better for Ben to fit his thick head against her pussy. She’s so tiny, but her strong little cunt opens around him, bending open and cradling his cockhead tight as he lets her have an inch of the tip. “Which student?”

“The scholarship girl. Niima. Test scores through the roof.”

Of course she’d be brilliant, too, the grad student who’s half-naked in his arms, swallowing back her cries of need. He pops his cockhead out of her long enough to knead himself against her clit, rewarding her — and she quakes with barely-stifled rapture. “No, sir, I haven’t.”

The old man harrumphs. “All right, then. Send her my way if you see her on your way out.”

A few more footsteps and the chancellor vanishes as the bathroom door swings shut.

“ _ Please, please, please _ …” Rey sobs, her whole body trembling before and below his larger one. She’s bracing herself against the backpack alcove with both hands again, quavering with some mix of need and fear.

It’s intoxicating — and she’s too wet to deny him entry to her own body.

“Please  _ what? _ ” He sounds colder than he meant to, but her cunt’s stealing all of his attention, the drenched pool enfolding him and begging him to plunge deeper. “You need to get fucked before the swelling in your gland will go down.” He scowls down at her naked back. “Haven’t you had a breakthrough before?”

The word’s so soft that for a moment Ben thinks he’s imagined it: “No.”

_ Oh, babygirl. _ Sympathy floods through him, tempering the hungry inferno enough that he urges his cock deeper inch by inch instead of slamming into her the way he wants to. 

She parts around Ben reluctantly, whimpering as her body gives way to his relentless trespass. He withdraws painstakingly before working his length into her again, savoring every rippling clench of her cunt around him.

“Please don’t knot me,” she begs. His belt jangles softly every time her ass meets his trousers — and he thrusts harder, fucking into her with growing urgency. “Please—”

“Touch yourself,” he growls quietly.

“W-What?”

Fuck, she’s so innocent — and the mere thought’s enough to make him ache. “If you don’t want me to pop a knot you’d better get yourself off fast.”

Rey braces herself with one hand, tiny body shuddering as the other disappears under the fall of her dress.

He can feel the difference instantly. Fast and hard, that’s the only way of beating the knot, even though his body wants to — and he knows he’s grunting like a fucking beast but he doesn’t care. It feels too goddamn good to ravage her, watching her full ass ripple as he slams into her, pounding her into oblivion.

_ Come for Daddy, babygirl, I’ll give you the release you need _ —

He’s rawing her again.  _ Her _ , his sweet, sleepy victim, his drunken conquest, the girl who made his fantasy become flesh.

Now Ben’s raping her for real.

He’s so much bigger than she is, it’s all too easy to bottom out inside her — but she meets him in every thrust, her panting breaths twisting into whines as he transfixes her to her core.

“I’m—” she manages, but he can already feel the tempest of strangled throbs claiming her pussy, the intensity of the orgasm making her skin pebble to gooseflesh under his fingers.

Just in time, too. His hot rush spills into her before his knot can pop, emptying enough to take the edge off. It’s still a huge load — and he gasps into her hair as it erupts out of him with brutal force, inhaling as his seed fills her tight, wet cunt.

Her body smells as perfect as it feels, like a living orchard that Ben could lose himself in, exploring her forever. He breathes deep, flexing his hips and pumping deeper as another spurt of heat finds its way out of him.

Rey trembles and shoves her body back against his hips again, still fully lost in the throes of coming apart. Her fingers white-knuckle the lip of the alcove behind the toilet as she screws him a few more times, and his fingers clench her hips bruise-tight.

_ Yes, babygirl, drink deep… _

Their bodies heave as they pant raggedly, trying to recover — and sense trickles through Ben’s mind like snowmelt.

Fuck.  _ Fuck _ . He just—

Rey. Shit, she’s probably traumatized from being dragged in here and assaulted with hardly a word. And while  _ Palpatine _ was here, too … surely she recognized the old man’s voice.

She’s hardly moving, just barely stirring along his still-rigid cock, surging like an exhausted sea after a storm.

What the hell can he possibly  _ say _ —

He eases his grip. That’ll do for a start.

“Are you okay?”

His voice sounds godawful, scratchy and too soft compared to the Alpha he was a minute ago — but she nods. Shakily, but the knot in his gut eases the barest fraction in response.

Ben’s cum splatters on her ankles and the backs of her calves as he eases her off his prick. There don’t seem to be any streaks of crimson laced through the milky flux, that’s another scant relief. He draws out a generous portion of the one-ply paper and cleans her off, legs first and then with a fresh handful, her wrecked slit.

Her tiny fingers catch his, taking over, and he moves back, tending to himself. With her bare ass still on full display there’s no chance of this hard-on going down, but he wipes it off and tucks it away in his underwear again, hiding his guilt away once more.

Rey wobbles, but he’s there to steady her as she hikes her panties up over her hips again. She flushes away the evidence of their sordid mess and he boosts her down from the seat. Maybe she doesn’t need the help — she writhes in his arms, crying out in soft outrage as he lifts her — but he doesn’t want her to slip.

That, and he wants to feel her in his arms one last time before he has to face up to what he’s done.

The stall’s far too tiny, but she shuffles around to regard him. The desperate, feral look that was in her eyes is now only a pale amber flame flickering up at him. Her fingers skim her neck, where the crimson blotch is already fading to a respectable pink. Soon it’ll be gone. “It… I feel better.”

“I’m sorry,” he begins, “I—”

“Don’t be,” she interrupts, and her cheeks flush again as she stutters. “What I mean is— It’s the blockers, isn’t it? Because this has never— and I mean  _ never _ —” She breaks off, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. “I didn’t realize it’d be that intense.”

His cock loves that word, and twitches its approval in his pants.

“I just think—” she starts again, but the squeak of the bathroom door swinging open makes her start.

Quickly, he scoops her up in his arms. At least he’s facing the right way to be taking a shy piss; the intruder doesn’t have such compunctions, and telltale splashing soon fills the men’s room.

Rey’s breaths are shallow and quick, but thankfully quiet. He almost wishes the man on the other side of the stall door would take longer, but the restroom door squeaks and he’s gone even before washing his hands.

It’s only because his arms are full of juicy little Omega that he doesn’t growl with disgust, and he lets her down only reluctantly. “Stay here.”

The bathroom’s empty, and once he’s sure the alcove outside is safe, too, he beckons her out. She darts into the hallway like a mouse — and then they’re a hundred inches apart, both wearing masks again, even though the idea that cotton face shields are going to keep them safe from each other is laughable.

“I should leave,” he offers.

Instantly he’s furious with himself. Once again he’s running. Why the hell is he running?

Because even as he’s trying to chalk this up to the watered-down blockers, to his dance along the brink of disaster that is unmedicated Alpha nature, he can’t understand why she provokes these feelings in him.

Because she scares him.

“Me, too,” Rey murmurs.

He frowns at her. The pinkish splotch on her neck is fading beneath her sun-burnished skin; a few minutes of lurking in the ladies’ room with a cool compress should do the rest. “Are you sure?”

“Yes.” She glances down the hallway at the torchlit rectangle. “I shouldn’t have come.”

_ Good girl _ . “The Uber pickup isn’t far.”

“Thanks, but I can walk home from here.”

“Smelling like  _ that? _ ” Ben snaps before he can consider what he’s saying.

He doesn’t need to see her whole face to know she’s scowling knives as her eyes narrow. ”Smelling like  _ what _ , exactly?”

“Like  _ sex! _ ”

She glances around, mortified, probably trying to reassure herself that they’re still alone. “You’re lying.”

“Rey, I just want to keep you safe.”

“Spoken like a true Alpha,” she snorts.

Maybe that’s why he has this overwhelming tingling in his palm, like he wants to put her across his knee and spank her until she’s red in the ass. Because the very idea of her walking home reeking of  _ yes-please-daddy-give-me-more… _ it’s unthinkable.

“Look, just … let me give you a ride.  _ Please _ ,” he amends quickly. “It’s my fault you’re in this position—”

“It’s not your  _ fault _ —”

“Well, I certainly didn’t help.”

She doesn’t say anything to the lie, but she flushes again. Maybe he’s just hyper-attuned to look for it, but the pink rash over her gland doesn’t seem to be fading as fast as it should. “I guess, um, a ride would be alright. Just as long as no one from here sees.”

“Parking Lot C.” He nods in the right direction. “License plate  _ KYLOREN _ .”

Is that surprise or disdain as her eyebrows jump? “Your gaming handle?”

“I’ll be a respectable distance behind you.”

“Of course you will.” One of her eyebrows quirks toward her hairline. Baleful now. Definitely. But still there’s a hint of amusement as her cheeks tighten like she’s holding back a smile as she moves past him and hurries toward the front door.

He wishes she could take the mask off. And everything else along with it.

Still, watching her hips sway all the way across the quad and to the passenger side of his red Velostar is good enough.

For now.

And worth way the hell more than seven thousand dollars.

* * *

“Down here on the right.”

He twists the car down one of Boston’s signatures narrow one-ways, disappointed with how short a drive it’s been. He’s barely managed to say anything beyond asking if her seat belt’s fastened — and though he noticed her gaze light on the stick-shift, she hasn’t volunteered anything but directions.

Ben slows beside the tiny gated courtyard as she indicates. He’s still trying to coax his leaden tongue into speaking when her head flicks toward him in his peripheral vision.

“Look, I— What happens before term, that’s one thing.” She takes a deep breath, clutching her knees like she’s working herself up to something. “But we can’t— I mean, this can’t happen again.”

_ We _ . It’s a hell of a verbal slip.

He doesn’t seize on it, though. Just puts the car in park.

Curiously, Rey keeps talking, staring steadfastly at her knees. “I’m back on my regular suppressants so I’ll just… And the other night, that was a one-time thing.” Her cheeks redden. “Not that I have anything against what Kaydel does, I only— One of my scholarships fell through, I didn’t know what else to do.”

Her pleading gaze finds his.

“Please don’t tell anyone.”

“ _ I _ —” He’s thunderstruck. “Rey, I would  _ never _ . I haven’t— I wouldn’t—” He stares at her as his heart slams with nauseating force. “Do you want to change advisors?”

His Alpha instincts roar with fury at that — but then she shakes her head. “No. I  _ want _ to work with you, Professor Solo. I just don’t want this— then—  _ tonight _ … to give you the wrong idea about me.”

God, he could fucking purr at how flustered she is. “I would never hold that kind of thing against you. Rey…” Even saying her name makes him throb with unslaked hunger. “After what I did to you tonight, I was afraid… I thought I’d hurt you.”

“No, I, um…” The color running through her cheeks is so beautiful, he wants to kiss her lips as they curve in a bashful smile. “I wouldn’t have signed on for the other night if I hadn’t been alright with something more, um, energetic.”

_ The other night _ . For the first time Ben’s gut goes cold at the words, as he realizes how close she came to doing something like that with another man, someone who wasn’t like him. Someone cruel or loathsome or legitimately terrifying.

Someone else who would now know where she lives.

She’s so fucking  _ innocent _ .

“I promise, I will be completely objective and not ask for any special treatment,” Rey hurries on as he sits there consumed by silent terror at what could’ve happened if he hadn’t been there. If he hadn’t requested  _ that _ .

If she’d been taken by anyone but him.

Ben hears more than feels his fingers tightening on the steering wheel, the squeak of its curvature against his skin. “Promise me something else.”

The pale heart of her face turns toward him.

“Promise that if you need money again—”

Rey’s gaze becomes steely, and this time as her cheeks flush it’s surely with anger. “I told you, that was a  _ one-time _ —”

His clenched jaw burns. “But  _ if you do _ — come to me first. Please.”

Her perfect mouth hangs open as she stares at him.

Then, probably realizing that she’s gaping, she snaps her lips shut. “Have a good night, Professor Solo.”

The door slams and she’s gone, only a damp spot in the passenger seat and the ghost of her crystallized-apricot scent as evidence she was ever here.

He doesn’t have to think long. One turn to think, two, and then he’s calling a number he thought he would’ve already lost.

“Resistance Escort Service — how are you this evening, Dr. Solo?”

Ben grimaces to himself. Of course she’s got him on her proverbial Rolodex now.

“Hi Ms. Connix. The girl you, ah, connected me with the other night—”

“Kira.” A pause. “I’m afraid she isn’t one of my permanent roster.”

At least Rey was telling him the truth about that much — yet still he’s strangely disappointed. “If she ever  _ does  _ reach out to you again, would you please let me know?”

”You’ll be the top of her waitlist.”

His molars grind. “You have a waitlist for her?”

“It’s just an expression, Dr. Solo,” Kaydel chuckles warmly. “But rest assured we’ll create one just for you.”

Ben should be reassured — but as he disconnects and drives on through the darkling night, his thoughts are a swirling hell of depravity, thinking of a honey-colored pair of eyes gazing up at him and wondering if he’s already in too deep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading!
> 
> 🖤


	3. Say You're Sorry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He's cool, undeterred — and Rey presses her lips into a bloodless line.
> 
> He can’t possibly demand _this_.
> 
> Solo‘s shadowed eyes dance over her face like charcoal flames. “I want you to get down on your knees, Rey, and tell me that you’re sorry for blowing me off.”
> 
> “I’m your _student!_ ” she half-shrieks, hating the wild yearning that pours through every fiber of her body at the thought of him defiling her.
> 
> “Right now you’re a pretty piece of ass I want to fuck.” His stygian gaze stirs her in the secret, primal place that’s only just begun to come awake. “You’re just an Omega to me. An incredibly rebellious one, which is probably why you make me come so hard.”
> 
> _Daddy, Daddy, I’m sorry—_
> 
> “You’re sick,” Rey hisses quietly, hating the way her mating gland throbs in defiance of her words.
> 
> Solo grins. “And you’re still here, princess.”
> 
> **Rey's computer breaks. Whatever is a broke Omega to do?**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> READ THE TAGS!!
> 
> Happy Saturday night smut drop, my frens — it's been too long, and we're back with more delicious pervitude...
> 
> Like the story? Leave me a comment, they are the ultimate motivation!!
> 
> 🖤
> 
> Other updates:  
> \+ [Craving Kylo](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14951468/chapters/34645847)  
> \+ [Alliance](https://archiveofourown.org/works/25197892/chapters/61070086)
> 
> Completed works like this:  
> \+ [Amortentia: The Love that Binds](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24025063/chapters/57803374)  
> \+ [Dreaming Ben Solo](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24572977/chapters/59345956)
> 
> 🖤
> 
>   
> 

Rey rocks to and fro on her knees, cold nausea coiling in her belly.

_ BSOD BSOD BSOD _

The four letters scream through her head like a klaxon, like lines of code, like a silent scream. Repeating as she sways as she’s done every time in her life that she’s been truly, stomach-turningly sick.

And this is the worst sickness of all.

The dreaded Blue Screen of Death.

Hardly three days into the term, mere hours before Professor Solo’s first lecture, and her computer shits the bed. Even her scholarship falling through hadn’t felt this visceral. This  _ personal _ .

Theoretically her data should be backed up and safe. But even if it isn’t, she’s going to need a replacement. Fast. 

And fast, Rey well knows, is not cheap.

Maybe that’s what makes her come to the decision deep down where it matters, in her churning gut, long before her mind admits the same conclusion. She’s just barely covered her arse financially and now … this.

It’s not fucking  _ fair _ — but at least this time she knows what to do. Much as she may not like it, there  _ is _ a way out.

Still, her thumb hovers over the phone icon beside Kaydel’s name as she considers her other option.  _ That _ one, the one that makes her stomach swoop in a whole different way. The option with somber eyes and those fingers and that  _ tongue _ —

The spectral itch in her gland is what makes up her mind once and for all, and she taps her thumb against her phone screen hard enough to hurt.

One way or another, Professor Solo is dangerous. Better to go back to Kay and spread her legs for a stranger instead.

“Resistance Escort Service, what’s your bliss?”

She jumps at the unfamiliar voice, too throaty for her former classmate. “S-Sorry, Is Kaydel there?”

“I’m sorry, she’s not able to come to the phone right now,” the strange woman replies. “May I ask who’s calling?”

“Erm, this is—” It takes a few stammering moments to recall the code name Kaydel had given her. “—Kira?”

The woman’s voice brightens. “Oh, of course! This is Zorii, I’m Ms. Connix’s new executive assistant. What can I do for you, Kira?”

“I’d, um, like to sign up for another gig? Kay said I could do that if I changed my mind.”

“No problem, I’d be happy to facilitate that for you.”

Rey cringes, pacing beside the tower that’s now just a metal-and-plastic husk as a keyboard clicks merrily on the far end of the line. “Let’s see… How soon are you looking to schedule your gig?”

“As soon as possible.”

“No problem.”

More machine-gun typing, and Rey gnaws the ragged edge of her thumbnail. 

“It looks like we’ve got a few inquiries that match your preferences. If your contact info’s still what we have on file, I can send the dossiers right over.”

Relief tugs at the tension in her chest, teasing her out of the painful hunch she’s been stuck in since the blue screen hit. This might actually work out; if she logs onto today’s virtual classroom on her phone, she might even be able to buy a new computer by week’s end, and it’ll be like nothing ever happened.

She thanks Zorii and clicks off — and a few minutes later her phone buzzes with the push notification. The choices aren’t anywhere near as compelling this time, though, and Rey’s relief wanes as she skims through the one-sheets.

Maybe she’s spoiled from his huge, clever hands and the feeling of his breath warming the nape of her neck, but immediately she knows nothing will be as good as  _ that _ time. 

_ Times _ , she corrects herself — and a flush of heat creeps through her sex as she remembers the bathroom, bent over before him, terrified, electrified by the sensations he drew through her body like ley lines of pleasure. Desire moved her body like a spectral pilot; she’d thought nothing of kneeling on the toilet, dress hiked up to her waist, panties digging into her thighs as Daddy gave her sweet relief, cooling the ember of need that burned in her core…

Rey shivers as the word reverberates through her mind like struck crystal. It doesn’t make sense … even on OmegaHub she’s never searched for porn like  _ that _ . Her own father had been normal enough, just a shy, nerdy man who died too young — and the mere thought of him in that context made her even queasier than the sight of her silent CPU.

No … this is something different. Something particular to Professor Solo.

Her stomach roils again.  _ Fuck _ , did it have to be  _ him _ , one of a scant handful of people in this city whom she  _ can’t _ sleep with?

And yet she has. Twice.

Maybe what she needs is a palate cleanser. 

Most of Kay’s clients are after a full-on fantasy, but Rey doesn’t want to playact like a girlfriend or a stripper, she just wants to get it over with. In the end she chooses a Beta who wants to fuck an Omega from behind, pretend to be an Alpha for a night. She can probably manage a few  _ oohs _ and  _ ahh _ s if she’s facing away — and with a condom on, it’ll barely be like the faceless man is even fucking her at all.

* * *

Rey’s just started packing her satchel with the essentials when a second message dings through on her phone after the confirmation. Her nerves are so keyed-up that only a few phrases jump out at first.

— _ scheduling error  _ —  _ please wait  _ —  _ further instructions _ —

She stares at the screen, stunned into stillness. After the buildup all afternoon, for things to screech to a halt like this … it’s jarring, especially after how smoothly everything went last time.

Rey slumps onto her battered loveseat, staring glumly at the tombstoned tower. She’d ridden anxiety’s edge all the way through Professor Solo’s lecture, his dark gaze piercing hers and making her heart shiver even through the too-small phone. It had been such a relief knowing this  _ gig _ — as Kaydel called it, like Rey was some kind of pussy musician — would smooth things over without a trace. 

This delay casts all that into doubt.

Was it  _ really _ a scheduling error that made the client cancel, or something about Rey herself? Maybe the Beta hadn’t liked her own one-sheet; Kay had never mentioned that, but surely it was a possibility.

She’s still slumped in her daze, trying to figure out whatever’s gone wrong when the doorbell buzzes. The high-pitched sound runs through her bones, and instantly she’s on her feet, heart slamming, even though she can’t remember standing up.

Are Finn or Rosie coming by? Surely not — it must be a mistake. The new guy in Unit 4 seems to have visitors coming and going at all hours, one of them’s probably just wandered astray.

She drags herself to the intercom beside the door and thumbs it on. “Sorry, you’ve got the wrong—”

“Ms. Niima.”

The low voice is harsh and laced with static, but she’d know it anywhere — and she jerks backward like the comm’s stung her.

“Rey, are you there?  _ Answer me _ .”

It’s the hint of command that makes her stumble back toward the gridded wall plate, even as her abruptly racing pulse makes her go bandy-legged with terror. “Pr-Professor Solo?”

“We need to talk.”

It makes so much sense to buzz the front door open that Rey doesn’t even question the impulse until it’s too late — and then she has only moments to comport herself as the secret, ancient voice reawakens at the back of her mind.

_ He’s coming he’s coming Daddy’s coming _ —

“Shut up,” she growls to herself, but the gleeful chanting continues unabated. 

Maybe it’s just her imagination or the way her heartbeat’s rattling her whole body, but she fancies she can feel the old building’s timbers shuddering with his footsteps as he hurries upward, drawing closer until he slows and stops just beyond the wall from where she’s standing.

Three stern raps sound at the door. 

Rey hesitates, the urge not to seem overeager thoroughly ingrained, but then she’s sleepwalking through the  _ click-click-zing _ of opening the twin locks and the security chain, the knob chill beneath her hand.

Solo looms in the doorway like an ominous, tweed-coated specter, glasses glinting at her above his featureless black face mask, briefcase strap slung diagonally across his beam-broad chest. “May I come in?”

She falls back, gesturing wordlessly as she admits him. He strides past her in a cloud of spicy musk, and she can practically feel him scrutinizing every inch of the apartment behind her as she secures the door again.

Rey turns back to find him standing in the middle of the room, completing his slow circuit as he surveys the apartment. It’s both well-worn and surprisingly barren for having been her home for the last three years, and she flushes at the way his dark gaze reads it all, from the chipped paint to the overstuffed bookshelves. 

He languidly slips the strap of his bag over his head, resettling it over one shoulder and unhooking his mask from behind his ears before his gaze locks with hers. His expression is somber, betraying nothing.

“If this is about the other night—” she begins nervously.

“You weren’t in class today.”

Indignation burns in her cheeks, sudden and hot as witchfire. “Yes, I was. I was just on my mobile — the virtual classroom doesn’t show app users on the default view.”

“Doesn’t it,” he rumbles, his voice as unforgiving as his gaze.

Rey folds her arms over her chest, only now remembering that she isn’t wearing a bra.  _ Dammit _ . At least the soft, thick fabric of her cropped sweater should preserve her modesty. “Check the instance records on your administrator dashboard. It’s under a different tab, but it’s there.”

He stares at her so long that she’s on the verge of stammering something else when he finally speaks again, gaze darting to her cracked-open CPU. “And is  _ this _ why you were on your phone? Your computer’s broken?”

She clamps her lips tight against the surge of emotion and nods.

“How broken is—”

“It BSODed. I tried everything I could think of, but the motherboard’s fried.”

Solo stoops, setting his bag aside on the floor and kneeling beside Rey’s tower. He looks like a disapproving librarian, from the elbow patches on his jacket to his khaki trousers — and his nose wrinkles in distaste as he pokes through the wreck. “How old is this thing?”

Her lips twist in a wry smile. “Which part?”

“ _ Rey _ ,” he chides, and her stomach dives as he looks up, his eyes finding hers again. “You think you’re going to get through your degree program with  _ this? _ ”

“Well, not anymore, obviously,” she mutters, self-consciously scuffing her socks against the hardwood floor. Did he have to show up when she’s wearing her pyjamas?

The professor stands again, his lanky frame unfolding like a pocketknife. “You should’ve told me.”

“It’s  _ my _ problem, not yours.”

“As your thesis advisor, it’s my job to ensure your success in this program. You can’t even  _ participate _ without a computer, especially with campus restrictions being what they are this term.”

Rey chuffs with quiet laughter. “And you show up at  _ all _ your advisee’s homes if they’re absent from one lecture?”

“You’re not just any advisee.” Her heart lurches, but he goes on: “You’re one of my teaching assistants. And you can’t lead your lecture sessions if you don’t have a computer to lead them  _ from _ .”

“I’ll figure something out,” she grumbles stubbornly.

“I told you to let me know if you needed money again.”

Her ears whistle with warning as Solo regards her. 

No. Surely not.

But how else would he have known to show up  _ now _ , just as she was about to leave for one of those ultra-clean apartments, unless… 

“Kaydel — the escort service—” Rey sputters. “—you  _ knew? _ ”

“I believe you’ll find you have a new client tonight,” he says, tucking his huge hands into his pockets.

Rey almost doesn’t dare look away from him long enough to check her phone — but there it is, a missed email from a few minutes ago, probably while he was storming up the corkscrewing stairs to the third-floor walkup. From Kaydel, asking if she wouldn’t mind accommodating the same client as her first gig, because…

“You  _ requested _ me?” she squeaks, looking from him to her phone screen and back again.

“You sound surprised.”

Rey knows she’s gaping at him, but she doesn’t care. Her heart’s hammering so hard that she can barely draw breath. “Professor Solo, you  _ know _ we can’t—”

“Can’t what?” Solo prowls toward her one slow step at a time, a dour, bespectacled dryad. “Rey Niima’s my grad student. I requested the company of Kira.”

“Right now?” she whispers, the itch already scrolling across her skin like ink.

A tendon pops in the hollow of his temple as he stops, towering over her from so close. “Unless you’re otherwise engaged, of course.”

Something about the knowing way he says the words makes her neck thrill with warning. “ _ Professor— _ ”

He looms over her, and whatever pale protest she was trying to make dies on her lips.

“You need a new computer. Don’t deny it.” His gaze pores over her face, studying her, and her core tightens with want. “So why  _ not _ me?” His voice is so low that it’s ragged, on the verge of breaking: “Why won’t you let me take care of this for you?”

_ Yes, Daddy, please oh god yes _ —

Rey shoves the treacherous voice aside, her cheeks glowing with heat as she scowls up at him. “Because that’s not how life works.”

“No?”

He’s so close — too close. His scent enfolds her like a cloud, the scent of dark honey and embers surrounding her and making her gland twitch.

“Tell me why can’t this happen,” Solo murmurs.

In that moment Rey would give anything to feel his plush lips heating her own like living coals — and she grits her jaw, trying to force the hunger away. “You can’t just swan in and try to fix things.”

“You need a new computer. A  _ good _ computer, not some heap of parts you’ve cobbled together like this. You’re not in an undergrad program anymore,” he adds quickly as her mouth pops open to deliver a stinging retort. “Your students are going to rely on you for their education as much as you’re going to rely on me.”

“So I’ll buy my own computer,” she tells him stiffly.

“With money earned from selling your body. Again.”

She lifts her chin, defiant despite the tendrils of longing that are unfurling throughout her body as she glares up at him. “Do you have a problem with that?”

“No — but you know the basics of game theory, Rey.” He says her name so dreamily, like he’s coaxing her across the shallow gulf that separates their bodies. “Risk versus reward.”

“Meaning?”

“ _ Meaning _ is it riskier to sleep with a stranger, or a man you already know? —a man who’s already taken care of you once before?” Solo readjusts the sterling frames on the bridge of his nose, a tendril of his ravenswing hair tumbling across his brow as he moves even closer and a ruddy flush blossoms on his neck. “A man who possibly even has your best interests at heart?”

Her skin floods with fire as the memory of him bending her over the toilet tugs at her again. Her quim tingles, aching with the remembrance of him filling her and urging such desperate cries from her throat that she had to stifle herself with her hand as he silently fucked her…

“You feel this, too. I know you do.” A breath hisses past Rey’s lips as he cups her cheek, his huge hand burning her skin. “Your body’s betraying you, Omega.”

One fingertip grazes the sensitive skin over her gland, and she whimpers as her whole body stiffens in response to his electric touch.

_ Take me touch me torture me, Daddy… _

“Let me be your Alpha tonight,” Solo murmurs, and she can hear his teeth gritting as his hand freezes, like he’s forcing himself to stop. “Do you still have that collar?”

She nods, not trusting herself to speak.

“Go put it on. Now.” His jaw tightens, and his brow draws thunderously as he glances around the apartment. “Where’s your bedroom?”

Humiliation joins the emotions tumbling through her gut. “You’re standing in it.”

“Oh.” It fazes him only a moment, and his eyes find the neatly-folded blankets beside the loveseat, crowned by a pair of pillows. Someone of his socioeconomic echelon probably hasn’t seen a pullout couch in years. “The bathroom, then.  _ Go _ .”

Rey grabs her satchel and hurries into the nook of a bathroom, closing the door behind her with an overenthusiastic clunk. Even once it’s shut and locked she can still feel his predatory gaze seeking her, searing into the door as he moves about in the main room of the studio apartment a safe distance away.

Her fingers tremble drunkenly as she loops the wide leather strap about her neck, pausing only long enough to peek at her mating gland in the mirror. The sensitive oval nestled in the curve of her neck is already pink and swollen, fluttering faintly as it rouses — and she glowers at the spot, outraged even as she hides it.

She’s been back on the full-strength blockers for  _ days _ . How the hell is she still this …  _ this _ …

Finally the flat metal rectangle clicks together, and she sighs with relief. It locks easily enough, and she hides the key in a half-empty tampon box at the back of her junk cupboard.  _ Everything _ smells like her in here, from the tangled clip-ins she used last Halloween to the bunches of tissue paper from any number of birthdays and holidays.

She smears her hands through the miasma of stuff for good measure, wiping her damp palms through the chaotic jumble. Good luck to anyone looking for a needle in this haystack, let alone a lust-blinded Alpha.

_ Daddy… _

Rey gasps as the word rolls through her like the tolling of an immense bronze bell, warm and mellow enough to melt her tension for a few brief moments. 

He  _ wants _ to take care of her; the primal force inside him has found her, seen her,  _ wants _ her. Maybe it’s simply because she was the yielding body beneath him that first time, letting him force himself on her without protest — but she’d loved it, loved his unrelenting touch both then  _ and _ the time that followed.

His mere closeness and scent were enough to set her off the night of the mixer. It’s no different now, her skin tingling in anticipation of him, the secondary points in her wrists tingling in counterpoint to the swollen gland in her neck.

“Rey,” he calls from the other room, the tightness in his low voice betraying his impatience.

She emerges from the bathroom warily, the Omega in her cringing as though he’s going to pounce, but he’s sitting on the loveseat, waiting. The vest beneath his jacket is unbuttoned, and his dark tie’s loosened a bit, but he’s otherwise the same — and Rey catches a glint of disappointment in his gaze as it settles on the leather chastity collar fastened around her neck.

He’s moved her battered coffee table out of the way, and as he meets her gaze he nods to indicate the barren spot in the middle of the living room. “Stand there.”

There’s no reason  _ not _ to, and she does as she’s bid, shuffling to a stop in the center of the small grey rug patterned with hexagons — her one failed attempt to make the place look homey.

“You haven’t had a chance to look over the dossier I sent Ms. Connix, so let’s talk.” Solo’s voice is unreasonably calm, his tremendous hands splayed over his knees as he watches her. “The same way you don’t want me to think of you like  _ this _ …” He falters ever-so-slightly, blinking as he draws a breath. “What I mean is, I’m trusting you with parts of myself that I’ve never shown anyone, and would prefer the college administration never find out about.” He pauses again. “This situation is, in a word, unique.”

“I know,” Rey murmurs. She has no earthly reason to believe him — for what little she knows of the man, he  _ could _ be a true predator — but somehow, instinctively, she knows he’s telling the truth.

“But I want to use your body to get off, and I want to pay you for it. It’s simple economics, supply and demand. That’s no one’s business but ours.”

She shivers at the cool way the words leave his full lips. Benjamin Solo, award-winning game designer, is sitting in her bedroom telling her he wants to be with her like  _ that _ again, fitting himself inside her and fucking her until he cums deep in her pussy…

Solo’s gaze flits down, catching the quaking of her knees as her clit throbs wantonly.  _ Fuck _ . “I didn’t get to knot you the other night.”

“Was that frustrating for you?” she murmurs.

His eyes gleam with menace. “ _ Very _ .”

“And that’s what you want?” She can feel herself pulling a disbelieving face, but a sterile white bedroom across the city seems far preferable to her own disheveled hobbit-hole. “ _ Here? _ Not somewhere nicer?”

“Here. Now.” The severity of his gaze eases as he leans back, holding court like a bookish emperor. He’s too rangy for the loveseat, his shoulders so broad that no one could possibly sit beside him. Not comfortably, anyway. “How much does Ms. Connix pay you for this kind of thing?”

Rey’s gut flips. It’s so coarse talking about money like this, so barefaced — but Solo doesn’t even flinch. 

“Uh … five… five thousand last time?” she ventures. “It was going to be two thousand today, but that was, um … simpler.”

“She certainly takes her cut, doesn’t she?” Solo grumbles to himself, clearly aggravated, before his gaze reclaims hers. “I’m going to knot you, and I promise you I’m not going to wear a condom. How do you feel about that?”

“Are you asking me or  _ telling _ me to take your cum, Professor?” she asks, the syllables perilously delicate.

He doesn’t move, but she could swear he’s smirking at her. “Is there a difference?”

Rey considers that for a moment, but her own lust is undermining her, craving the feeling of being tethered to his body as he fills her with his spend. The antediluvian Omega in her wants to wrap herself around him as he purges himself deep inside her. “I suppose not.”

He nods. “I think it’s reasonable for you to be paid three thousand dollars in exchange for that service.”

“Fine.” Mortification and delight twist through her mind like a delirium of autumn leaves. “Anything else?”

“Yes.” His elegant fingers tighten on his knees, digging into the khaki fabric — but his voice is that same icy purr as during his lecture this afternoon. “I want to see you beg.”

“ _ What? _ ”

“That’s the scenario I want.” Solo’s lips quirk in a faint, evil smile. “I want you to say you’re sorry.”

Rey’s heart stutters against her ribs. “Sorry for  _ what?! _ ”

“For not telling me you needed help.” He sits forward, thoroughly commanding as his steely gaze fixes her in place. “I offered to protect you, and you turned me down. Now, less than a week later, you’re in financial trouble again. To see an Omega under my purview behaving that carelessly is—” He pauses, inhaling slowly through his aquiline nose as he searches for the right word. “— _ frustrating _ . So what I want from you tonight, the experience I’m  _ paying _ for, is for you to tell me that you’re sorry. And then fuck me like you mean it. Raw. Knotted. Completely mine.”

Rey’s chest tightens with white-hot indignation. “You can’t be serious.”

“I am.” The professor settles back against the loveseat, thoroughly self-satisfied as he smooths the mussed khaki fabric over his thighs. “Apologize, and make me believe it. That’s the satisfaction I want.”

“I’m not an actress,” she snaps. “If you want that sort of thing, you should ask Kaydel for someone else.”

“I don’t want someone else. I want  _ you _ .”

He's cool, undeterred — and Rey presses her lips into a bloodless line. 

He can’t possibly demand  _ this _ .

Solo‘s shadowed eyes dance over her face like charcoal flames. “I want you to get down on your knees, Rey, and tell me that you’re sorry for blowing me off.”

“I’m your  _ student! _ ” she half-shrieks, hating the wild yearning that pours through every fiber of her body at the thought of him defiling her.

“Right now you’re a pretty piece of ass I want to fuck.” His stygian gaze stirs her in the secret, primal place that’s only just begun to come awake. “You’re just an Omega to me. An incredibly rebellious one, which is probably why you make me come so hard.”

_ Daddy, Daddy, I’m sorry _ —

“You’re sick,” Rey hisses quietly, hating the way her mating gland throbs in defiance of her words.

Solo grins. “And you’re still here, princess.”

“It’s  _ my _ apartment, and as you can see, there really isn’t much of anyplace else to go!” 

Suddenly he’s on his feet, overshadowing her in an instant.

“Do you want me to leave?” His dark eyes flash with impatience, brighter and more perilous than lightning. “Because I will. But you know what I want from you if I stay.”

“For me to beg for your forgiveness,” she grits out.

“Yes.”

“For me to fuck you again.”

“ _ Yes _ ,” Solo repeats softly. His gaze travels the length of her body, taking her in from her hastily-combed hair to her mismatched socks. Curiously, the corner of his mouth twitches, like he’s holding back a smile. “Yes, Ms. Niima, I want your naked pussy wrapped around my cock.”

The words are unthinkable coming from her thesis advisor, but it only makes her hunger for him more insatiable.

“Nothing goes up my arse,” Rey growls at length — and to her relief he doesn’t even hesitate before nodding. “And… And don’t hurt me.”

He blinks, abyssal eyes widening with surprise. “Never.”

“Then…” She draws a deep breath, trying to steady her runaway heart. “…alright, fine. For three thousand dollars. If that’s  _ really _ what you want.”

“Yes,” he hums, the pleasure in his voice practically tectonic.

Solo sinks back onto her loveseat like a shadow, and Rey twitches backward as her pulse rages in her ears, a sanguine sea. Had she  _ really _ been leaning into him just now, hoping he’d enfold her in those ironbound arms, keeping her safe like he’d done as the chancellor prowled past the stall door…?

Worst of all, her body is clamoring for him, the deep chants out of time compelling her to kneel before the Alpha who’s been watching her, following her, waiting for his chance to violate her again…

She purses her lips as they stare at each other. The corpse of her beloved tower beats behind her like a forgotten heart, reminding her of how much she needs this. 

Needs  _ him _ .

It feels stupid dressed as she is, in a cropped sweater and black pyjama-style sweatpants while he’s kitted out to the nines, but she sinks to her knees and settles her arse on her ankles.

Solo’s generous lips relax, the full force of his gaze leveled at her body as she positions herself before him.

“I’m … sorry.” 

The words are stilted, distant — and he snorts derisively. “No you’re not.  _ Mean _ it, Rey.”

“I  _ am _ sorry!” she blusters mindlessly.

“For what?”

“For…” She searches her mind, trying to recall her purported offenses. “For turning you down when you offered to look after me.”

The dour man glares through his sterling-framed lenses, still unimpressed. “What did I tell you the night I dropped you off here?”

“That you wouldn’t treat me differently than any other student.”

“ _ And...? _ ”

Rey huffs in frustration. “And that if I needed money I should come to you instead of going back to the escort service.”

“So why didn’t you?” Solo peers down at her, his expression so heartrendingly torn that part of her twists with grief. “I was there for you when you needed me before, I gave you the release you needed without saying a damn word— Why would you go to a stranger for the same thing?”

“Because you’re my  _ teacher! _ ” Rey whines, hardly daring to speak the words aloud, as though the chancellor himself is listening through the wall. “If anyone finds out about this…”

Solo scowls at her. “You don’t trust me to be discreet?”

“No, it’s not that,” she mumbles.

“Then  _ what? _ ”

She stares down at her hands as they writhe in her lap, knotting with worry. How can she possibly articulate how  _ wrong _ this is, when her own body is begging her to throw herself on his mercy? “I don’t— I can’t—”

“Fuck it,” Solo sighs, abruptly exhausted. “Babygirl … just come here. I need you.”

_ Babygirl _ .

The word shouldn’t make her feel so good, but it does, pouring through her nerves like golden glory — and she crawls forward the few feet to where he’s sitting on the loveseat.

His length strains at his trousers as he splays his legs wider to accommodate her, and his rich aroma surrounds her in a dizzying cloud as she settles herself between his knees.  _ Fuck _ he’s huge, his hard-on almost as long as her forearm, distending the fabric and pulsing with need.

“I’m sorry,” she murmurs, urging a groan from his lips as she runs her palms up along his inner thighs, falling short of the contorted fabric at his hips. Her pussy is aching for him, but her mouth’s watering, too, perversely aching to taste him and see if his body is as delicious as his scent. “Please, Professor … let me try something to make it up to you.”

Solo stares down at her fingers as they alight on his belt, unfastening both it and his pants, her hands shaking with commingled excitement and terror. 

He gently nudges her aside once she draws his zipper open, and her head spins with hunger as he shoves his waistband down past the curve of his hips, groaning with relief as his erection springs free.

His cock is huge, thick and hungry as it sways with lust — and Rey fights the urge to look up at his face before catching the throbbing length in both hands and bringing her lips to his terminus.

“ _ Fuck! _ ” His voice is strained as she starts to suck him, and he buries his hands in her hair, groaning as she licks long ribbons along his shaft and swirls her tongue about his head. “Sweetheart, that feels so good…”

It’s almost impossible to reconcile the quiet, cold-eyed Solo with the sweet way his fingers comb through her hair as she sucks him, caressing her in whisper-soft movements as she dips and rises.

“Oh  _ fuck _ , princess, you’re so good at this...”

Tangy precum leaks into her mouth, and she relaxes her throat, taking him deeper.

_ Daddy’s knot, Daddy’s knot is coming... _

Just as his hips are beginning to move with her rhythm, his fingers tighten at the nape of her neck and he pulls her away. His cockhead pops out of Rey’s mouth, and she gazes up at him in shock, abruptly self-conscious.

He was groaning and moving the right way, saying the right things… but now he’s staring down at her with that intense, scorching fire in his eyes, and she’s too dazed by a thousand conflicting feelings to ask what she’s done wrong.

Rey flinches as the dark man cups her jaw, but he only wipes her lower lip with his thumb, gazing at her with strange tenderness.

“What do you have to say to me now?” he asks softly.

“I’m sorry, Daddy,” Rey murmurs without thinking.

Solo stiffens at the word. 

_ Fuck! _

Suddenly his arms are around her, swiftly gathering her against his chest, his dark gaze claiming her like a magnet. “Say that again.”

“I’m s-sorry— I didn’t mean—” The abominable word had simply slid out of her, and now the Omega darkness at the back of her mind revels in her mistake. “I just—”

“ _ Say it _ ,” he demands. His angular face is so close to hers, features drawn in a focus that borders on anguish.

“I said  _ I’m sorry, Daddy _ ,” Rey whispers, utterly humiliated.

A rumble starts low in his throat — then his lips are locked against hers, the kiss equal parts brutal and clumsy and perfect as he crushes her close. His spit-sticky cock sears her midriff in the gap between her sweater and waistband, and she clutches his tie, holding on for dear life as he forces his tongue between her lips, probing her mouth, stroking against her in ways that are both alien and beautiful.

“Sit on my lap,” he rasps between demanding kisses, his taste permeating her mouth like crystals of maple sugar.

She fumbles up onto the loveseat to straddle him — and moments later he’s yanking her hips flush with his, one arm imprisoning her waist as the other shoves the hem of her sweatshirt up to her collarbone.

“Beautiful,” Solo breathes as he drinks in her half-naked body.

He caresses her breasts, massaging and kneading her with growing ardor as his naked erection digs into the soft valley of her belly, weeping precum onto her skin.

“Sweetheart…” He traces a line of kisses from the corner of her mouth to her ear, teasing and licking her until she shivers against him, crying out for relief. “Tell me where you need me. I want to hear you say it.”

The thick line of his cock anchors her crux, unyielding even through the sweatpants and the cotton panties that swathe the apex of her thighs. He throbs through the dampening layers, his body calling to hers as she clenches around hollow nothingness.

“In … side…” Rey pants. __

_ Daddy, please fuck me raw _ —

“Yeah? You need me  _ there? _ ” The dark man twists one hand down the front of the useless fabric, finding her where she’s already slick with need — and he chuckles warmly as he pries her open. “Ah … you do.”

“Please,” Rey sobs as he works her with his hand, thumbing her clit and hooking his fingers into her so that her whole body ripples with pleasure.

“Please  _ who? _ ”

He wants to hear it again, for whatever ungodly reason. “Please,  _ Daddy _ .”

“Take off your sweater, honey,” he croons, and his surer hands help guide the garment over her head, tossing it aside once her arms are unbound from the black fabric. “That’s it, get naked … you’re all mine now. Let me enjoy you.”

She crumples against him, and he ducks his head to suck the roseate peaks of her nipples, teasing them into hard buds with his perfect teeth. His hands skim to her hips and slip beneath the layers of fabric, heating the twin swells of her arse cheeks — and she cries out as he lifts her bodily, spreading her and grinding her against his roused cock.

Solo’s mouth reclaims hers, and he murmurs into her lips as he rubs her clothed pussy along his inflamed length. “Tell me what you need, baby… More of this?”

Rey nods, half-sobbing with the force of the unslaked need that’s rushing through her body. Her cunt is aching and wet and so empty — and she presses her body into Solo’s, rocking her hips against his as the lust worsens and she keens with longing.

She’s burning for him again, full-strength blockers or no. Her body  _ needs _ his … and mystifyingly, Solo seems to know it.

“It’s alright,” he soothes, confidence radiating in his every touch. “Daddy’s gonna take care of you, princess.”

Her fingers ache; she’s been clinging to his tie the whole time, and he gently works her loose before guiding her to rear up on her knees. He drags her sweatpants and knickers down her thighs, helping her out of them one leg at a time until she’s splayed over his lap, naked save for her chastity collar and socks.

His hard cock twitches against Rey’s body, greedy for her as she reaches up and pushes Solo’s jacket down off his broad shoulders. His eyes are wild, but he moves with deliberation, shrugging out of the tweed outer layer and unhooking his glasses from his ears, tossing them aside on the arm of the loveseat before she has his full attention again.

_ Benjamin Solo. _ He’s so unreasonably handsome, those fathomless eyes piercing her soul as his plush lips tremble with his own ragged breaths.

“Tell me,” he insists quietly, plying her with another soft kiss as her essence drenches his rucked-down trousers. “You know what I want to hear, Rey.”

“I’m sorry for not coming to you sooner, Daddy,” she whispers — and this time, to her surprise, she truly means it.

“ _ Good girl _ ,” Solo sighs, his hair tickles her cheek as he prints a kiss on the tip of her nose. “It’s okay, baby. I’m here for you now.” He guides her arms around his neck, and she smells her own nectar on his fingertips. “And I take care of what’s mine.”

He traces warm, soothing designs over her naked back, and she sinks into him, feeling his indrawn breath coast over her shoulder as she presses her mound against his bare cock.

_ Daddy, please take care of me, hold me, keep me safe…  _

Solo kisses a line down the curve of her neck, lingering at the chastity collar — and she surges against him with a soft cry, tilting her hips and opening her sex.

“That’s it,” he groans as she aligns her soaked crease with the magmatic heat of his shaft, rising and falling against him with growing boldness. He twitches as she drenches him with her essence, her clit flickering with pleasure as his hard ridges slip against her. “Show me how much you want me.”

“Fuck me, Daddy,” Rey begs. “Alpha… Daddy,  _ please— _ ”

_ Fuck me fuck me oh god fuck me _

“Sit on my cock, sweetheart. Right here.” He guides her hips high, so high, but then his head is nudging between her soaking folds, thick and feverish as he finds her  _ there _ . “That’s it—”

Rey sighs as she impales herself on him with torturous languor, feeling every inch of his rock-hard phallus stretching her soft walls. He’s just as monstrous as she remembers, and it takes an eternity of gently twisting her hips, spearing herself on him inch by inch until he’s fully inside her — but he keeps thumbing the sensitive nub of nerves at her apex, tempting her onward with wavelets of ecstasy.

“What a good girl, taking my big Alpha cock,” Solo croons as she aligns the curve of her arse with his khakis and he draws his hand away. He caresses her hair, murmuring sweetly and kissing her temple as he flexes his hips, burying himself in her even deeper and making her whimper. “I’m so proud of you, princess.”

“Daddy…” she mewls into his neck, nearly overcome by the overwhelming  _ fullness _ of taking him. “Please … help me…”

His fingers tighten on her body. “Yeah, honey, that’s what I’m here for.”

He coils an arm about her waist and starts to move — slowly at first, then fucking into her with growing insistence. Rey clings to him, letting her fingertips find his silken hair as he thrusts, clenching her thighs each time she meets him.

“That’s it,” Solo growls, hitching her closer. “Ride me.”

He fills her to her core, sparking in her belly like flint against steel, her pussy cradling him as he thickens inside her. His hot, wet cock strains into her, overwhelming every thought in her mind but senseless Omega desire — and she forces herself down onto him again and again, gasping and tucking her hips to make him bottom out.

“ _ God _ , you feel so fucking good,” he growls into the shell of her ear, his voice tight with yearning. He draws out of her just to penetrate her afresh, driving into her completely and then setting a fiery new tempo, pounding into her with relentless fervor. “You’re being such a good girl … I’m working up the biggest knot for you—”

“ _ Please _ knot me, Daddy,” she begs breathlessly as the Alpha professor devastates her to her very center. “I need you, I need you  _ now _ —”

His only response is a snarl.

She writhes on his lap but he cages her to his chest as he fills her, the fist-sized knot blooming and locking him inside her as her cunt tightens in response. There’s no seeing, only sensation — and from far away she feels him covering her face with kisses, fucking into her all the harder even as their bodies bind together.

“This is what you do to me,” he pants, rutting into her with the full force of his musth. “Fucking you is all I can think about — I swear to christ I’m going insane—”

Solo grunts as he lifts her, and suddenly she’s beneath him on the floor, the grey patterned rug coarse against her back as the breath gushes from her lungs. He plunges into her with savage force, devouring her lips until they ache — and as he ravages her he nudges the brilliant, ecstatic spiral that’s drawing tight within her belly, pressing her closer to the edge with every new intrusion.

“Daddy, I’m so close,” Rey sobs, nearly out of her mind with rapture. Touching herself has never felt this good. “I’m sorry—”

Solo’s lips tease hers — and as he dips his head lower, running his tongue along the edge of her chastity collar just  _ there _ , the sudden change in sensation pushes her over the brink.

“Come for me, babygirl,” he rasps.

The tight channel of her pussy seizes around him, clenching and releasing in violent spasms, and his own cries become wordless, his intrusions sharp and brutish as his knot throbs and his hot flux floods her womb in an overwhelming rush.

* * *

They lie tangled together for what feels like years. Solo caresses her hair, his stubbled jaw abrading her as he nuzzles into her cheek for more wordless kisses. Even as his knot eases he urges more aftershocks from her shattered sex, grinding into her with the slow deliberation of a piston.

Rey lies beneath him, trying to stay still as he surges into her. Whatever stupid frenzy that overwhelmed her is fading, the memory of it more ghastly with every passing moment — and she trembles as her professor’s unsheathed cock throbs inside her, each slow thrust making her pussy tighten and wring out more spurts of his fiery seed.

She can’t stop thinking about the words.

_ It’s simple economics, supply and demand _ .

Maybe it is for him, but this avalanche of longing every time she sees him, feels him…

Why does he have to feel so  _ good? _ It makes everything about this ghastly situation even harder.

“Rey…” His voice is hoarse with need, and he skims his fingertips along her waist, the curve of her bare breast, her jaw. “Promise me— and I  _ mean it _ this time—”

“I think you should go, Professor,” she interrupts quietly, cutting him off before he can say anything they’ll both regret.

This has to stop. Now. Before they cross some line that can’t be taken back.

He draws himself up on his elbows to stare down at her — but Rey staunchly refuses to meet his gaze.

They can’t do this.  _ She _ can’t. It’s all just make-believe, an Alpha and Omega playing pretend.

Isn’t it?

Everything’s a confusing blur. Her stomach tightens as she feels him gazing at her, thumbing a ribbon of her hair, saying nothing.

They pull apart like puzzle pieces. By the time she’s grabbed her blanket and dragged it around her body he’s refastened his pants — and with that simple movement he’s decent again. He loops his glasses over his ears again as he stands, folds his jacket over his arm, and reshoulders his own leather bag.

Only then does he look back at her, his dark eyes stormy with confusion, concern, hurt. Or maybe that’s just what Rey  _ wants _ to see, because his voice is cool as ever as he says, “Good night,” and vanishes in the  _ click-click-zing _ of her triple locks unfastening and the thud of the closing door.

* * *

The package from Nerd Herd arrives an hour before the money from Kaydel hits Rey’s bank account. She waits to open it until she’s sure her full payout’s there — but it arrives right on time, three thousand dollars and not a penny less.

Just as he promised.

Only then does she dare open the package that the stalwart courier delivered, insisting that  _ yes _ , this was meant for her and not the newcomer in Unit 4, unless in a colossal cosmic coincidence her neighbor’s name  _ also _ happened to be Rey Niima.

Once the featureless cardboard sheath is peeled back, she’s even  _ less _ sure that the thing’s been delivered to the right person — and her heart beats strangely, like one wrong movement’s going to make this curious illusion shatter.

The AuroraSky Centurion isn’t even on the market yet, but the shape of the compact tower is undeniable, nestled in the black, velvet-lined case like a chrome diamond.

_ PC Gamer _ was drooling over this system in their last issue, heralding it as the breakthrough of the year. Now one’s sitting in her apartment.

A small envelope of heavy linen paper rests atop the sleek CPU, a folded piece of paper tucked inside — and what’s scrawled on it makes Rey’s breath catch in her throat.

> **You deserve something pretty, babygirl. See you soon. —Daddy**


	4. I Can Take Whatever I Want, Part I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “You’re so wet,” Ben marvels softly, tracing her slit with his fingertips and thumbing her clit until she gasps. “Do you always get this soaked for Alphas, or is this just for me?”
> 
> “I’ve never—” Rey breaks off, bucking her hips and humming raggedly as he hooks two fingers into her. “— _b-been_ with another Alpha. My ex was a Beta.”
> 
> _Fuck_. She might as well have been a virgin that first night in Kaydel’s apartment — and now the all-white surroundings take on a depraved new meaning.
> 
> Ben nuzzles into her hair, inhaling deeply. He’s had girlfriends before, but it’s never been like this. _Needing_ to possess her, no matter the cost. “What would induce you to keep it that way?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey loves, it’s been a minute! I could be a total tease and space these out, but you’ve been waiting long enough, and honestly, these two parts go together :)
> 
> **MIND THE TAGS!!!**
> 
> 🖤
> 
> **Recent updates:**  
>  \+ [House Dadam Kink Collection](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/HouseDadamKinkCollection) | I can’t reveal which story is mine (just yet!), but the anthology is dropping soon, and I’m in the company of some really epic writers!  
> 🖤 **Find the collection on AO3 | Authors will be revealed** as of 28 September 2020
> 
> \+ [Alliance](https://archiveofourown.org/works/25197892/chapters/61070086) | Fiery swordswoman Khthonia Fern teams up with mysterious bounty hunter Raz to rescue a kidnapped princess in a gritty original fantasy romance.  
> 🖤 **Chapter 8 | Beyond** is live as of 13 September 2020  
> 🖤 **Chapter 9 | Open Water** will be live as of 26 September 2020
> 
> \+ [Craving Kylo](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14951468/chapters/34645847) | Programmer Rey Jakkusen agrees to become the BDSM submissive of tech titan Kylo Ren — but can she fulfill her contract without losing her heart?  
> 🖤 **Chapter 15 | Bark & Bight** is live as 17 August 2020  
> 🖤 **Chapter 16 | Leaves from a Lonely Vine** is coming soon
> 
> 🖤
> 
>   
> 

Ben’s apartment is too goddamn big.

He can’t stop thinking about it after seeing that cramped excuse for a nook where she lives. Rey Niima.  _ His _ Rey.

He’s almost stopped correcting himself.

Three times now she’s taken his cock, his cum, every time leaving him wanting more. She’s exquisite. Searing as an azure-hot flame. 

And worst of all,  _ elusive _ .

Her scent wasn’t just all over the studio apartment, the tiny quarters were  _ permeated _ with the piquant aroma, even the very air tasting of her. The den was cozy, enfolding him even as her own soft walls clenched tight and urged every ecstatic drop of spend from his body.

For the first time in his life, afterward, collapsed on top of her, he’d felt a sense of—

But then she’d kicked him out.

Ben’s brow furrows painfully at the memory. That wasn’t the way the night was supposed to end … and now the  _ wrongness _ of it gnaws at him, consuming him more with every day that slips past without hearing from her.

Surely Rey saw the note. She  _ must _ have. The black box it came in is there at the side of her webcam feed, resting askew on the arm of that battered couch that doubles as her bed — so whether that’s unintentional or a semaphore, he knows she kept it. 

She  _ is _ using the computer he sent her.

Much as Ben would like to believe the Centurion’s box is there as a private signal to him, it’s probably an oversight. Rey’s headstrong, her very life embroidered with a chaos that’s as plain to him as the corona of tendrils escaping her ponytail to frame her face.

He hadn’t sent her the computer because of its webcam — far from it — but now he’s grateful for the HD picture, even if it’s occasionally interrupted by her heinously slow internet.

Ben’s jaw tightens. He’ll have to do something about that.

He studies the curves of her lips as she talks, smiles. The admin dashboard has indeed proved itself useful; this particular feature enables him to anonymously look in on his TAs’ lectures, make sure they’re staying on track without the observer effect fucking things up.

But the only person the observer effect is fucking with today is Ben, who’s straining his jeans at the sight of her.

A few minutes of watching the spunky Omega interact with the undergrads assigned to her breakout sessions would’ve been enough to see that she’s taking to it naturally. Now he’s just lingering. Torturing himself. 

Wondering.

“Actually, what you’re referring to is the  _ second _ version of  _ Oregon Trail _ ,” she corrects what’s no doubt an overzealous freshman. “The original version was released in 1971 — and  _ that’s _ the one to which I’m referring.”

She tilts her head to the side, listening to the student’s response. Ben has the gaggle of neophytes muted, of course; he doesn’t want to miss a single sound that passes her lips.

And he’s rewarded. Her hum of annoyance before she corrects the kid again: “No, I  _ know _ you’re referring to the MECC version—”

It’s a tiny sound. Just a murmur, nothing her students would pick up on — but Ben’s cock stretches eagerly at the soft melody. It’s so close to those perfect moans she makes when he’s filling her up, pleasure and straining becoming one…

Maybe it’s because his apartment seems so much emptier now after seeing her place, but he feels like he’s being watched as he slides one hand to the ravenous swelling in his pants.

His heart thuds with warning. 

If no one knows what he’s doing, is it really wrong?

Ben’s breath hisses out between his clenched teeth as he takes himself in his hand, applying gentle pressure through his pants. The denim’s too thick, though — and worse, he can feel the boxers beneath beginning to dampen with need, clinging to his cockhead.

The plastic swatch he keeps swiveled over his webcam is enough to assure his privacy, and he double-checks that his mic’s muted — but even so, the rip of his fly coming undone sounds louder than one of Zeus’ thunderbolts.

Shame pours through his veins in a hot flush, but the Rey on his screen doesn’t pause in the middle of whatever answer she’s delivering. She doesn’t hear him. No one can, not even his neighbors; privacy was one of the first things he purchased when  _ Grimtaash _ became an indie darling and catapulted him into a different tax bracket ten years ago.

Ben grunts as he shoves his waistband down and draws out his length. His phallus is rigid, insistent with need; he’ll  _ have _ to jerk it. Full-strength blockers may be strong, but Rey’s effect on him is apparently far stronger.

He palms himself, stroking firmly enough to bring a bead of clear precum to the tip of his length as she lectures about  _ Zork _ ,  _ dnd _ ,  _ Bored of the Rings _ . But even if she was talking about  _ Softporn Adventure _ he probably wouldn’t hear the words, just the musical rising and falling of her voice.

A telltale itch crawls through his skin, coaxing him to smear the liquid along himself. It’s the only thing that can cool his anguished skin in place of her touch.

Her breath. Her lips. The column of her neck.

The sweetness of fucking into her tight little body, feeling her surrender around him with those sighs of need.

Ben knows where it lives, that perfect gland of hers. Just  _ there _ in the hollow of her neck, nestled like a midnight orchid in the gloaming, ready to blossom.

Ready for  _ him _ .

She’s his Omega.  _ His _ .

And that’s the thought that makes him spill, dragging the hem of his t-shirt up but not nearly far enough as the creamy plumes spurt out, wave after wave until he’s empty but still aching for her.

* * *

Sunk in the valley of his afterglow, Ben keeps watching her, trying to think sensibly — whatever that means anymore. Even now he can’t be sure if his thoughts are his own or if the shadow that’s always lived in the mirror, slumbering just  _ there _ behind his eyes, has finally come awake. If it’s finally overtaken him.

He can’t stop obsessing over Rey. He’s tried — or maybe in fact he  _ hasn’t _ , doesn’t want to. Maybe some part of him is happy like this.

The most hardheaded, rebellious Omega that Ben’s ever met, and  _ that’s _ who his Alpha instincts crave.

It makes no sense.

Either way, the result is the same: she’s in his life now. Like a nebula that’s coalesced into a burning star, one day she  _ wasn’t _ , and now she simply  _ is _ .

As such, there are plans to be made.

Ben tears his eyes away from the pixelated webcam feed long enough to survey his apartment again. He’s certainly old enough, established enough to take a mate. And though she’s young, it probably wouldn’t raise more than an eyebrow or two if another Alpha from her class took her as his paramour…

A low growl shudders through Ben’s chest, and the nape of his neck prickles with fury as he thinks of the other scent he’d picked up at her place. Not  _ in _ it, but just outside, on the threshold, threading through the air from above.

Another Alpha. Younger than Ben, his musk sharp and ready. Possibly even unsuppressed.

Jealousy floods him in a nauseous wave, and pain grips his skull in steel claws. He would’ve smelled it if the other Alpha had been in Rey’s apartment — but with the city half-frozen amid the vital quarantine, neighbors might have good reason to become friends. Maybe more.

Maybe it’s only a matter of time.

And for an Omega like Rey, so scattered that she can hardly keep her hair — let alone her  _ finances _ — under control, wouldn’t a steadying hand be welcome?

She needs a stable, nurturing environment to flourish, not some cramped rat-trap of a place. Not some mediocre life bound to a mediocre Alpha.

Ben can give her stability. Nurturing, too.

And she kept the computer.

Is there a chink in her fiercely independent armor?

After he’d slipped and called her  _ babygirl _ , those words, those precious words had dripped from her lips like gemstones.

_ I’m sorry, Daddy _ .

Her genuine penitence, her submission as he’d enfolded her in his arms — the dark Alpha loves that. He wants to mold his body around her smaller one, penetrate her, claim her and mark her with his teeth... 

Ben grits his jaw until the rebellious twitching in his cock eases. He could be ready to go again — and soon.

“ _ Fuck _ ,” he growls.

His stomach swoops with panic at his own verbal outburst, but the Rey on his screen keeps chattering happily, that elfin grin of hers easing his jangling nerves.

She’s been a good girl. Even if she was too overwhelmed to respond to his card, she  _ did _ email him. Acknowledging receipt of the roster for her breakout session with no mention of anything untoward one way or the other, but it was contact all the same.

Omegas are  _ meant _ to be mated, to belong to someone. It’s coded in their DNA — just as the instinct to protect is rooted gene-deep in Alphas like him.

She  _ should _ be his. It’s the only thing that makes sense.

And Ben Solo wants to belong to her, too. To be Rey Niima’s Alpha, wrong as it is. He wants to bring her here and let her fill the empty spaces, the silent rooms where he’s lived alone for so long.

* * *

Ironically, it’s Rey herself who gives him the idea.

“Hard-copies of the required readings for this course will also be available at the Tuanul Library, which is right around the corner from Plutt Hall and Eravana Garden. I should have them there around seven o’clock—” Her voice breaks in a tinkling, awkward laugh as she rolls her honey-brown eyes. “—and  _ yes _ , I am aware of the irony in warning you all to stay as far away from campus as you can, and then going there myself.”

Ben’s sitting bolt upright even before the frisson of heat is done twisting through him.

He could see her. Contrive to run into her, maybe — or even just watch her. Watch  _ over _ her. Make sure she gets home safe.

She laughs again, that same half-abashed sound as she twitches her head in disbelief. “I know, the bureaucracy of it’s pretty ridiculous…”

It’s a different world now. A more dangerous world.

Thank hell Rey has Ben to look after her.

* * *

A half-hour later he’s slotted in one of the narrow alcoves on the library’s third storey, watching over the circulation desk like a gargoyle as the clock inches closer to seven.

The readings for her breakout session weren’t on the shelf when he arrived, so unless she snuck them in during the thirty seconds he was in the elevator, he’s in perfect position. The third floor is practically abandoned at this time of evening, and no one in the airy alcove far below is looking up at the floor-to-ceiling windows that circle the rotunda like arrow slits.

He waits, a book cracked open in his hands as an alibi.

She’s a few minutes late, and he almost doesn’t recognize her at first. His gaze has been drawn — surprisingly, since he doesn’t tend to notice  _ anyone _ under normal circumstances — to a woman in a knee-length pink tulle skirt. Her black long-sleeved shirt scoops so low in the back that he can see most of her spine as she approaches the circulation desk.

It takes way too long to realize it’s  _ her _ . Rey.

He’d been expecting her to show up in the same t-shirt and jeans she was wearing during her virtual lesson, but during the intervening hour she’s slicked up. Wildly so.

She glances around like she did at the mixer, chestnut tresses bouncing at each turn of her head, but then the desk attendant claims her attention.

Ben’s mouth waters as his gazes follows the length of her back. She’s not wearing a bra.

If he was standing behind her, he could trace her shoulder blades with his fingertips, lay a line of kisses along the back of her neck. He could push under the fabric and reach around beneath it to cup her firm, warm tit in his bare hand…

The women nod as they chat back and forth — and then Rey draws a folder of papers out of the narrow messenger-style bag slung across her torso, painstakingly nudging the pages under the plastic divider on the counter.

The clerk receives the folder with equal care and opens it, immediately picking through the pages and separating them out into distinct sheaves. Rey leans her elbow on the counter, waiting for the woman to finish — and before Ben can move she’s pivoted, lifting her head to glance up at the third-storey windows.

Their eyes lock.

Ben should be anonymous behind his black face mask; there’s nothing distinctive about either  _ it _ or the grey button-down and suit jacket he’s pulled on to go with his jeans.

Yet she knows it’s him — and  _ he _ does, too. The way her gaze stops as she finds him, staring unflinchingly as his heart threatens to slam its way out of his chest.

Should he confront her? Try to vanish? Both the elevator and the emergency stairs empty out into the lobby where she’s standing.

Would she believe him if he said that he was here by chance?

Of course not. Ben’s more sure of that with every tense moment that passes.

Rey must be equally distracted by staring up at him, because by the time she looks back at the clerk the other woman seems exasperated, like it’s taken her a few tries to get Rey’s attention.

A few more words pass between them before Rey turns away a second time, and when dark gaze finds him again it’s not the library door that she heads for but somewhere off to the side, her lithe form disappearing under Ben’s feet.

Where’s she going?

Then the elevator dings, and he knows.

Her scent reaches him even before the doors rumble open a few seconds later, and he stares down at the book in his hands, swallowing hard as that candied-berry flavor of  _ her _ ghosts over his tongue.

“ _ A Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Mythology? _ ”

He looks up to find Rey regarding him coolly, arms folded squarely beneath her breasts, hip jutted out to one side. “Miss Niima.”

“I thought you might drop by my virtual workshop today, Professor.” She’s taller than usual — and Ben tries not to stare as he discovers the cute black heels she’s wearing. The wide straps wound around her ankles remind him of restraint cuffs fastened with bows, which is  _ far _ too tempting a thought right now.

He lifts one shoulder in what’s hopefully a nonchalant shrug. “I was busy.”

“Clearly.”

Rey saunters forward to join him, and their bodies are too close in the narrow space. Suddenly it feels like an assignation — and Ben’s nerves thrill with electric awakening.

_ Yes babygirl, come closer, Daddy’s here… _

He closes the book and sets it aside on the shelf he plucked it from, savoring the extra moments of not having to look her in the eye and face up to—

“Did you follow me here?”

At least he can answer that question honestly: “No.”

“So you’re just lurking up here, _ reading _ .” 

Rey quirks an eyebrow in sarcastic disbelief. It’s not even a question — but Ben refuses to dissolve into explanations. Not when she’s being so stubborn. “How  _ did _ you know I was up here?”

“Your scent. Look…” she sighs, and  _ fuck _ , the idea of her even  _ thinking  _ about the way he smells is enough to make his mouth water.

Rey tilts her head to the side, probably gathering her thoughts — and for the first time Ben notices the black, lace-trimmed ribbon fastened about her throat.

His heart damn near stops and his cock stiffens in the same strangled moment of hope. 

A courting ribbon.

“This can’t happen,” Rey says softly, even as she sways closer.

“This?”

“ _ Us _ .” It’s such a beautiful word, even if she only whispers it. “It’s unethical for me to be anything but your student.”

“Is that why you dressed up to drop off a few papers?”

Rey’s molten eyes flash with surprise, and she tightens her arms about herself, clutching the strap of her canvas bag as his gaze wanders over her body. As if that could stop him. “Of course not! Why would you think that?”

Her scent changes with the blustering words, a bittersweet note drifting through the summer-haze symphony of her aroma.

She’s lying.

Ben allows himself a grim smirk. “You know why.”

One of her hands darts to the courting ribbon, velvet-dark and modest about her throat. It’s so Victorian, a throwback from a bygone age before blockers … and it looks perfect on her.

_ All the better to tear off you, babygirl… _

“I-I’m going on a date,” Rey manages, but he knows that’s only marginally more truthful. “I’m already late, actually.”

Her own body’s betraying her.

Ben steps forward, and the shock that flares across her face as he crowds her into the bookcase is exquisite. “Then leave.”

Her hands scrabble at the laquered wooden shelves behind her, and she clings to them, half-swooning even as she narrows her gaze. “I’ll go when I’m d-damn well ready, Professor Solo.”

“So you  _ want _ to be here, then?” Ben dares to skim his hand along the curve of her waist, rising to caress the swell of her breast, his thumb grazing her nipple as the hardened peak strains to meet him. “With me. Unethically.”

The gentle touch draws a gasp from her, the fabric over her mouth sucking in sharply with the sound. But she’s not fighting him.

“You’re still not leaving, Rey.”

“You c-can’t afford to keep s-seeing me through Kaydel,” she stammers as he repeats the gesture, but her eyes are heavy-lidded with pleasure. “This has to stop.”

“That’s what you’re thinking about in all this — how it affects my bank account?” Ben’s cock twitches hungrily, and he wants to spread her, feel her warmth against him as he hardens more for her — but not yet. Even the shadow Alpha pacing at the back of his mind knows to be patient. “You’re so thoughtful, princess. But I can take care of myself.”

Rey’s breaths shallow with fear as he lets his hand stray lower, tracing a path down to the flare of her hip. “What are you doing?”

“Taking care of  _ you _ .”

Her scent changes again, darkening like wine. Like  _ wanting _ .

It’s all one garment, the long-sleeved blouse and the skirt — a dress — and he gathers the layered tulle, fisting it up out of the way.

“N-No — someone’ll see,” she gasps as his hand finds her bare flesh, but he leans close, snaking his arm around her waist and drawing her body flush with his. Even if anyone were to walk past, the cascading layers of tulle would probably hide the exact nature of his furtive movements. “We can’t, Professor, not here— not  _ anywhere _ —”

“Leave if you don’t like it, Rey,” he mutters, head spinning with pleasure as her scent coils into him, begging him to claim her. “Otherwise be a good girl and keep a lookout.”

Ben shoves his hand into the forgiving softness of her panties, swallowing back a satisfied croon as Rey’s spine arches. He forces her open with a bladed palm, spreading her thighs with his knees and pinning her to the bookcase.

Warmth immediately enfolds his fingers, and she trembles in his arms. “No— please…”

“You’re so wet,” Ben marvels softly, tracing her slit with his fingertips and thumbing her clit until she gasps. “Do you always get this soaked for Alphas, or is this just for me?”

“I’ve never—” Rey breaks off, bucking her hips and humming raggedly as he hooks two fingers into her. “— _ b-been _ with another Alpha. My ex was a Beta.”

_ Fuck _ . She might as well have been a virgin that first night in Kaydel’s apartment — and now the all-white surroundings take on a depraved new meaning.

Ben nuzzles into her hair, inhaling deeply. He’s had girlfriends before, but it’s never been like this.  _ Needing _ to possess her, no matter the cost. “What would induce you to keep it that way?”

There it is again: that frightened-doe look as she turns her head to gaze up at him. “W-What do you mean, Professor?”

He fucks into her with his fingers to match the violent throbbing in his cock, and she mewls softly.

_ I mean let me fuck you, babygirl, me and me ONLY _ —

“I mean I want to keep you as far away from Miss Connix and her  _ service _ as I can,” Ben growls, the words soft-edged and distorted from his black mask.

She cries out softly as he works her. His precious Omega, so ready for him that her slick’s begun to trickle down the inside her thighs.

Ben’s belt suddenly jerks into the back of his hips as she twists her hand down the front of his jeans and boxers, catching him in her fingers and making him grunt with instinctive lust.

His hard-on throbs in her grip as she strokes him, and he twists a third finger into her, caressing her need-drenched cunt until her whole body clenches. “I’d be a good Alpha to you, Rey.”

_ That _ makes her copper eyes go wide — but she only works his cock more desperately, grinding the heel of her palm along the precum-wet underside of his cock in time with his rhythmic intrusions. “ _ What? _ ”

Ben clenches his jaw as he feels his musth starting to gather, the base of his cock tingling in anticipation of a cruel knot. He should be fucking her right now, and not just with his fingers.

_ Daddy’s here to make everything okay, starting with this… _

He’s on the verge of telling her to unfasten his pants so he can take her properly when the elevator dings, the sound chilling amid the library’s hush.

“ _ Fuck! _ ” Rey half-shrieks, yanking her hand out of his jeans and shoving Ben back so hard that he reels against the facing bookcase.

In a swirl of rose tulle and that mouthwatering scent, she’s gone.

_ NO! _

The extra moments it takes him to tuck his erection out of the way and straighten his rumpled clothes are too many. By the time he strides out of the alcove she’s already passing the interloper, murmuring a quick greeting before darting between the parted elevator doors.

Her hand flashes in the harsh light, and he knows she’s pressing the button to urge them shut.

Before Ben can lunge after her, his view of Rey’s hand — and indeed the entire elevator — is blocked by a stern, square-shouldered form. 

“Not now, Phasma—”

It’s too late. The slam of the elevator doors isn’t loud, but it reverberates through him all the same.

“Oh good  _ lord _ , Benjamin,” the head librarian snorts, rolling her ice-blue eyes. “You haven’t made  _ another _ student cry, have you?”

Ben brushes past her, but the call button simply lights up as he slams it, denying him.

He knows about prey drive, of course, but he’s never felt it. Not keenly, not like he does now, knowing that Rey’s slipping through his grasp.

He’s losing her.

_ Not yet. _

“Solo, that ILL request you submitted—”

“Just email me about it,” Ben snarls, shouldering the metal door to the stairs open. Rey’s scent is clinging to him, luring him onward — he has to catch her, claim her before—

“— _ needs a hard-copy signature _ —” the brusque librarian shouts after him.

“ _ Later! _ ” he roars.

It’s nothing. Not compared to this. 

To  _ her _ .

The door slams shut somewhere overhead as he charges down the flights of dimly-lit stairs. His hand flexes on the rail, steadying him each time haste threatens to send him tumbling downward.

_ Daddy’s coming to get you, babygirl. _

Ben can sense heads turning as he bursts through the door at the foot of the stairwell like a thunderhead, but she’s not among them. Though her scent gusts from the closing elevator doors she’s already gone, her trail fading to nothingness in the recycled air.

Benjamin Solo, level designer wants to examine things systematically, clear the ground floor of the library sector by sector — but the dark voice thrums through him, singular and insistent.

_ Outside. Go. _

It only takes a second to decide, and then he’s at the threshold, glass doors hissing open at his approach and twilit air chilling his perspiration-beaded face.

Her aroma lingers in the air like flower petals, and Ben inhales deeply as he stalks forward into the deepening night. A violet glow is dying on the western horizon; the college’s wide flagstone pathways and manicured gardens are sunk in a dewy gloom.

Lonely silhouettes trickle through the shadows, disappearing between flanking pathways of solar lights. Most of them are moving away, retreating to the parking lots and metro stops at the fringe of campus — and none of them are an Omega on the run.

Then the breeze rises, and he finds it. A trace of her.

_ There. _

She’s followed the pathway that hooks around the corner of the library, a darkling way that runs between the carved stone edifice and the quad-sized expanse of the Eravana Garden hedge maze.

Her face flashes in the dusk like a waxing moon as she glances back, and Ben picks up his pace, his blood rising as she tries to flee. Whether from Rey’s inordinately high heels or trembling knees she’s wobbling, stumbling every few steps as she struggles toward the floodlights of Plutt Hall at the far end of the garden — or maybe the bus stop just beyond.

Either way, it doesn’t matter. He’ll reach her long before that.

His heart goes sickeningly weightless as Rey loses her balance, and she stumbles against the hedge maze, catching herself awkwardly. Her skirt sways around her like a weeping willow, snarling on the riot of leaves and shorn-off twigs; she twists her hips, trying to tear the gauzy layers free, but the maze holds her prisoner.

It’s like the damn garden’s helping him.

Ben closes the distance, glancing around one final time to ensure they’re alone on the inky pathway, but it’s silent save for Rey’s soft, urgent curses. Free from prying eyes. Even the library windows looming over them stare emptily.

_ You’re mine now, babygirl, Daddy’s here _ —

The maze entrance maws just ahead of where Rey’s caught. There are no witnesses.

Ben’s wayward Omega has run far enough.

Rey whimpers one last time as he looms over her, the sound making his thwarted cock twitch. “ _ Professor Solo _ —”

Then one of his arms is about her waist, his other hand pressed to her masked mouth, stifling her cry as he drags her through the maze’s entrance and into the welcoming shadows.


	5. I Can Take Whatever I Want: Part II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Why are you doing this to me?” Rey’s voice is low, cool, betraying infuriatingly little of what she’s feeling for someone whose body reeks of desire.
> 
> The shadow gnashes at him, demanding that he take her now, _now_ before she can get away—
> 
> For a heartstopping moment he almost lets it drown him.
> 
> Isn’t that why he locked it away in a glacier, sunk it away in the back of his mind, refusing to open its icy prison even a crack? Isn’t _that_ what he’s been afraid of all these years — being overtaken by the Alpha within?
> 
> —your _Alpha, babygirl, whether or not you know it yet, whether or not you’re ready_ —

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whatever shall happen to dear Miss Niima in the maze garden? Read on to find out...
> 
> Like this story? Leave me a comment!!
> 
> **MIND THE TAGS!!!**
> 
> 🖤
> 
> **Recent updates:**  
>  \+ [House Dadam Kink Collection](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/HouseDadamKinkCollection) | I can’t reveal which story is mine (just yet!), but the anthology is dropping soon, and I’m in the company of some really epic writers!  
> 🖤 **Find the collection on AO3 | Authors will be revealed** as of 28 September 2020
> 
> \+ [Alliance](https://archiveofourown.org/works/25197892/chapters/61070086) | Fiery swordswoman Khthonia Fern teams up with mysterious bounty hunter Raz to rescue a kidnapped princess in a gritty original fantasy romance.  
> 🖤 **Chapter 8 | Beyond** is live as of 13 September 2020  
> 🖤 **Chapter 9 | Open Water** will be live as of 26 September 2020
> 
> \+ [Craving Kylo](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14951468/chapters/34645847) | Programmer Rey Jakkusen agrees to become the BDSM submissive of tech titan Kylo Ren — but can she fulfill her contract without losing her heart?  
> 🖤 **Chapter 15 | Bark & Bight** is live as 17 August 2020  
> 🖤 **Chapter 16 | Leaves from a Lonely Vine** is coming soon
> 
> 🖤
> 
>   
> 

“ _ Fuck _ , I love that skirt on you, princess,” Ben croons into Rey’s ear as he wrestles her into the hedge maze and out of sight. It’s a moonless evening, ink-dark even here, just one manicured hedgerow away from the flagstone path that skirts Tuanel Library.

No one should see them — but keeping his captive  _ quiet _ might be another matter.

She murmurs brokenly into his fingers as he unloops the satchel strap from her torso, letting the bag fall aside as he forces her toward a nearby park-style bench. The slatted wooden seat is made for rumination, not fornication, but no one else is around to protest.

Ben hitches Rey onto his lap as he settles on the bench, her bare back warming his chest like a living inferno. He could take her deeper into the maze, but knowing they’re so close to being found by any passersby adds a dangerous twist.

And he’s tired of waiting.

“Don’t try to run,” he murmurs into her hair as she tries to buck away from him, her masked breaths luffing against his cupped palm as she fights his grip. “You’ll only make this harder on yourself.”

He doesn’t bother moving Rey’s skirt out of the way as he catches her between the legs, ignoring her whimper of protest. The fabric’s thin enough to feel the outline of her sex through it — and he finds her with his fingertips, stroking the length of her crease and pressing into her until her breath comes in ragged gasps, hips surging faintly with his rhythm. 

Only now does he take off their masks, his first and then hers, unhooking it from her ears with the utmost care and tossing it aside with her bag. Now that he’s reasonably sure she won’t scream for help.

“Good girl,” he murmurs into the nape of Rey’s neck. He grinds her soaked panties and skirt against her pussy — but her body stiffens as a door squeaks open close by, and a familiar voice breaks the night.

“Professor Solo!”

_ Phasma _ . Damn her persistence.

Ben claps his hand over Rey’s lips again, her panicked breaths warming his fingers as she clutches at his wrists, trying to tear free.

“Keep quiet or she’ll hear,” he breathes into the crook of her neck, his lips brushing against her courting ribbon, reminding her. “Wouldn’t want anyone to think you came to campus  _ asking _ to get fucked, would we?”

To his relief she stops wriggling, sinking back against his chest and caging his wrists only loosely as Phasma’s footfalls grow louder on the flagstone path.

It’s inevitable now. He’s going to fuck Rey. Knot her. Flood her with his seed.

And then, when he takes her home tonight—

Ben doesn’t hear the person approaching from the other direction until their shadow joins Phasma’s under the roots of the hedgerow beside the bench. 

_ Shit _ . They’re too close. A single word from the runaway Omega could destroy everything.

“Sorry, but did you see a tall, broad sort of fellow headed this way? Dark suit jacket, mop of hair, probably scowling?”

Rey’s breath heats Ben’s fingers in a series of soft huffs. Is she actually  _ laughing _ at the librarian’s description of him?

He works her slit harder, taking out his frustration on her innocent body until she judders in his lap, panting with lust instead of giggling.

“No idea,” the other person mutters, and Phasma offers a disgruntled, “Right, thanks anyway,” before both sets of footsteps move off together, disappearing altogether as the library’s side door chunks shut again.

Finally.  _ Privacy _ .

“Rey…” Ben murmurs into her shoulder, savoring the syllable as much as the perfect scent that coils off her skin. Fear and wanting and hope all swirling together, calling to him. Begging him to claim her.

He rucks her skirt up over her thighs, roughly now, driving his hand down the front of her underwear to palm her sex as her startled “ _ mmph! _ ” makes his other hand buzz.

Her hips twitch backward, unwittingly grinding against his erection as she squirms.

_ mine mine mine MY Omega _

“Don’t run away again.” Ben trails his forefinger from her lips down the front of her throat, coaxing a whimper from her as he savors the softness of her skin. “Didn’t you wear this pretty dress for me?” She shivers as he traces the crescent of her decolletage, lingering. “Because you  _ wanted _ me to look?”

“I — had a — d-date—”

Her words are tinged with tart deception.

Ben yanks her neckline down to bare her breasts — and a thrill runs through him as she shrinks into him, whimpering at the suddenness of it.

“ _ Fuck _ , you’re a bad liar,” he growls. He cups her tits, reveling in their firm, warm weight, caressing her sensitive skin and drawing whispering spirals around her nipples. “And you have my  _ full _ attention, Omega.”

“Please, Professor Solo,” she implores as he spreads her pussy with his other hand, two fingertips finding her threshold and starting to dip into her where she’s hot and wet and tight. “Don’t do this to me here—”

“I wanted you in the library, pet.” He hooks her blouse under the curves of her breasts, fondling her greedily even as he impales her on his long fingers. “We’re only out here because you tried to run away from me.”

“Professor, wait…” Her voice trembles with sobs as Ben pushes deeper and works more fabric down off her shoulders. Her dress is getting in the way and he’s fast losing patience with the thing. “If I l-lost my place in the grad program—”

“You couldn’t,” he reassures her, leaving a trail of warm kisses along her spine as he massages her inside and out, unrelenting, warming her up for him. God, she feels fucking  _ luscious _ , her cunt slopping wetly as he adds a third finger. “I’d never let that happen to you. Not because of me.”

“B-But there’s no way you can promise—”

“Listen to yourself, sweetheart.” Ben thumbs her slickened clit and urges his fingers inside her  _ there  _ until her words shatter into sighs, her orgasm swirling about him like a tempest. Her worries are melting away at his touch, and even though he’s clear-eyed he’s drunk on her. On making her feel like  _ this. _ “Do you really think you could refuse an Alpha?”

Rey’s breath catches at his final words, her soft walls clenching around his fingers. “There are laws — you can’t Command me against my will.”

“Go on,” he coaxes. “Try refusing me. See what happens.”

His cock twitches ravenously as the rich scent of plums permeates her bouquet, pinwheeling through her scent. Wine begging to be drunk.

Fuck … she  _ likes _ it. The idea of not being able to say no to him.

Ben sweeps her hair aside and grazes his teeth along the nape of her neck — and as she shivers, his prick throbs under her ass, lifting her body like a wave.

“I have all the power here,” he whispers into her. She’s so  _ real _ , so vivid that her skin burns his lips as he prints a soft kiss in the hollow behind her ear. “You know I can take whatever I want.”

Rey clutches at him feebly, almost caressing his hands now rather than trying to stop him. “You won’t do this.”

Ben chuckles, delighted at how his finger alighting on her courting ribbon makes her tremble with uncertainty. “You sure of that, babygirl?”

He’s itching for her, aching for her, drowning in need — but he can’t mate her here. He won’t have her remember it like this, getting dicked down raw on a hard, cold bench for hours instead of a soft nest.

She deserves better.

But at least he can take the edge off and blow a few loads in her sweet, ripe cunt before he brings her home. God knows from the feverish way Rey’s striving against him she needs release, too.

The words reverberate through his chest strangely, spilling from his lips before he can question them: “ **Get naked** .”

An Alpha Command. The first Ben’s ever given.

Two words spoken in a raw, abyssal voice that could get him fired, if not imprisoned. Thrown out of Rey’s life, at the very least.

He’s fully unprepared for the way her body tenses over his lap at the order, muscles going whip-taut as factions of her mind war for control of her body.

“Oh  _ fuck _ ,” the slight woman whimpers as she leans forward, thrusting her hips back against the junction of his legs. She clutches at her dress, desperately trying to gather it up beneath her; it’s like she’s trying to obey him and pull it out from under her thighs without losing her balance or standing up.

Ben’s tempted to let her fight against herself like that for a while — her struggling movements are a satisfying turnaround after his own exertions, her curves bouncing against him delightfully — but he doesn’t have time to waste. He’s leaking like a damn faucet at the anticipation of driving every thought from her mind but  _ him _ .

“Let me,” he murmurs, finding the cunning zipped hidden among the wispy layers and drawing it open. He negotiates the garment up over her hips, her shoulders, her head, hushing her as she whines in protest. “It’s okay, sweetheart, Daddy’s here—”

“I won’t do it,” she grits out. “You can’t, you can’t—”

“Can’t I, baby?” Ben strips the last of the dress off her, freeing her arms from the confining sleeves. He tosses the thing aside, and it lands beside the bench in a pile of amorphous fluff. “Fine, do the rest by yourself.”

Adrenaline pours through his veins as he drinks in the view of Rey planting her black high heels on the ground, lifting her hips again, and dragging her panties down to kick them aside in the dirt.

Then she’s naked on his lap, save for the bow-bedecked heels and the courting ribbon bound about her throat.

“That’s enough for now.” Ben’s so attuned to the shape of her body that she looks like she’s glowing in the darkness as she sits back against him. "I think I've made my point."

She turns to look back at him over her shoulder, dazedly trying to cover herself with her hands, her eyes luminous in the wake of his Command.

His beautiful Omega.

“Why are you doing this to me?” Rey’s voice is low, cool, betraying infuriatingly little of what she’s feeling for someone whose body reeks of desire.

The shadow gnashes at him, demanding that he take her now,  _ now _ before she can get away—

For a heartstopping moment he almost lets it drown him.

Isn’t that why he locked it away in a glacier, sunk it away in the back of his mind, refusing to open its icy prison even a crack? Isn’t  _ that _ what he’s been afraid of all these years — being overtaken by the Alpha within?

—your _ Alpha, babygirl, whether or not you know it yet, whether or not you’re ready _ —

But Rey isn’t just some Omega, just another in an endless sea of faces. She’s unique.

She’s been with him like  _ that _ . The senseless way he craves, the primal hunger he’s always kept hidden. She isn’t recoiling from him like he’s monstrous.

Maybe she’ll understand.

“Something inside me has always been there. But now it's awake.” His voice trembles almost as much as Rey, naked and utterly defenseless against the length of his body. He grazes his knuckles along the curve of her cheek, trying to ignore the insatiable throbbing, the way his mouth is watering as he gazes at the column of her neck. “I don't know what it is or what to do with it.”

“I think—” Rey begins softly, stirringly faintly atop him. “I think I know what you mean.”

“You do?” His breath catches in his throat, and he searches her face, but all he finds is understanding. The same fear he’s feeling of being overtaken by the shadows. 

The same ravenous  _ need _ .

“Ah…” Ben runs his thumb over her lower lip, gazing at his Omega as her eyes grow heavy-lidded at his touch. Her scent is exquisite, a raspberry ready to be plucked. “You do.”

He traces his hand up the insides of her thighs, parting them, splaying her knees outside his own. His body seems so impossibly huge next to hers, but somehow she always manages to take him.

“ **Ride my cock** ,” Ben purrs into her hair.

“Daddy,  _ no _ —” Rey gasps, but it’s too late. She’s already leaning forward, supporting herself on his bent knees and raising her hips, giving Ben enough room to rip his belt and pants open.

His swollen length is eager to escape the confines of his boxers, and he swallows a grunt as it thuds solidly against the underside of her ass.

He could do the deed himself, but it’s far more enjoyable watching  _ her _ do it, feel her as she catches his twitching phallus in her fingers and lines him up with her slick-drenched entrance, lingering long enough to swirl his cockhead against her clit.

“Look at you, sweet thing.” Ben folds his hands around her hips as she starts to work herself onto his head, burying his girth within her inch by inch, her cunt stretching open around him — faster once he slides one hand around to the sensitive nub at the apex of her thighs and resumes his inexorable circles. “A few words and you’re taking me raw. It’s like you  _ want _ to take my spend.”

She can’t stop herself, not even as she hooks her ankles around his calves and pushes against his knees, trying to defile herself on his fully roused shaft.

“Daddy, please,” she grits out, thighs trembling, half-splintered on him. “Help me…”

Ben slips one arm about her waist and catches her opposing wrist. She’s reluctant to let go, like she doesn’t trust him to bear her weight, but he holds her steady as he guides her fingers to her crux. 

“Touch yourself, babygirl. Hard.”

He’s only halfway sheathed in her, but she’s ready for him, her hips twitching as she takes over her own pleasure. She hardly even seems to notice as he caresses the soft valley between her hips, skimming higher to grope her breast and finally lock over the sloping line of her shoulder.

She gives another cock-stiffening gasp as Ben grazes the edge of her courting ribbon with his thumb — and that’s when he snaps his hips, wrenching into her brutally and pulling her body flush with his.

“Oh Daddy,  _ fuck _ ,” Rey gasps.

He’s buried deep inside her, so deep, her pussy clenching about him in fluttering spasms he holds her naked thighs down against his jeans. Her spine arches, but he only gathers her against him tighter, harder, savoring the completeness of her embrace. 

Ben’s own ecstatic groan sounds distant, but her fragrance washes over him in keen waves, dark and thirsty as midnight.

_ Fuck her take her claim her _ —

Her arm brushes against his as she rubs her clit in fierce circles, her breaths tight with need.

“Tell me you didn’t want this when you saw me in the library.” Ben nods to her dress, cast aside on the maze’s footpath like an ethereal snakeskin as he rocks into her, setting a languid pace. “Tell me you didn’t wear that tonight hoping I’d tear it off you.”

“Not like this,” she whimpers.

“Don’t lie to me, princess.” He leans back against the bench to strain into her cunt even harder with each trespass, nuzzling into her hair as he starts to quicken. She’s incandescent, burning hotter as he takes her. “I know you like it like this. Rough. Hard.”

Rey tosses her head, slowly shaking it, but her hand still abuses her clit, fingertips grazing his drenched root in her frenzy. “No…”

“ _ Yes _ ,” Ben husks as he transfixes her.

_ Good baby, good babygirl _ —

Soon he’s pounding into the naked woman, agonizing her with his demanding tempo, her honeyed scent beguiling him onward.

“This is what gets you off.” Ben can’t spare a hand from Rey’s body but he bites the nape of her neck — and she jolts like he’s a live wire as he follows the harsh touch with a kiss, her walls clenching around him so that he can’t help but slam into her even harder. “That’s why you signed up for it that first night, isn’t it?”

“Signed up for  _ what? _ ” Rey whimpers.

He breathes the words into her skin: “Getting raped by me.”

“ _ Fuck _ ,” she hisses, stiffening in his embrace at the taboo word — and even if Ben didn’t feel her hand slowing between her thighs, drawing out the final few strokes before her undoing, he’d still know she’s coming again from the tectonic reverberations that seize her silk-over-steel frame.

Her rapture coaxes Ben’s knot to pop, and he latches into her with an ecstatic rumble, claiming her pussy and swelling until she’s nearly bursting with him.

“Professor…” she mewls, trembling as he knots her. “Oh  _ god, _ Daddy, I’m so full of you…”

_ Hold her down, show her who’s the master, who’s the Alpha, who owns her now _ —

Ben’s thighs burn with their combined weight as he surges to his feet, picking Rey up and turning to kneel on the bench’s slatted seat, trapping her down.

She squeals from the abrupt repositioning, limbs flailing — but she can’t escape him as he splays her thighs again, caging her body beneath his. It’s perfect having her bent over before him like this. Suddenly he can cover her mouth again and tear her hand away from her clit, replacing her touch with his own hungry fingers.

Her sobbing breaths tug at Ben’s hand, but she stays quiet enough as he ravages her. His knot is buried in her pussy so firmly that she quakes with his every muted retreat, moaning with relief as he ruts deeper.

“What is it about you?” he groans, grinding the nub of nerves at her apex with his fingertips as she undulates against him. “Why  _ you _ , Rey? Because destroying each other feels this good?”

He lifts his hand from her mouth, carding his fingers through her glossy tresses — but only wordless, rasping breaths pass her lips.

“How do you do  _ this _ to me, babygirl?”

Ben can feel her nearing again as he drives into her, her insistent need rousing his own. His balls ache, and the fire gathers in his loins as her knuckles whiten on the bench’s slatted back, her clever fingers gripping tighter still as she shoves her ass back against his hips.

“ _ Rey _ ,” he grunts as he thrusts punishingly deep, pumping the glorious rush of heat into her womb. Her body is living ecstasy, urging his seed from him in feverish torrents as he nuzzles into her. “ _ Fuck _ , that feels amazing …  _ you're _ amazing…"

Her voice is so soft that he doesn’t hear her breathy chant at first. “—please please please get out of me it’s too much I’m so full—”

“I can’t, princess.” Ben follows the shell of her ear with his lips, lingering to gently tug her lobe between his teeth. He’s still rigid, hard enough to make her gasp each time he nudges in her belly. “Not until we finish what we started. You should know that by now.”

“How much—” She breaks off with a gasp as Ben surges into her. “—m-more is there?”

He hums, considering, never disturbing his languid rhythm. “At least one more load. Maybe two.”

“ _ Two? _ ”

You’re sexy as hell,” Ben laughs as her surprise charms another burst of heat from his inflamed cock. “If you were my Omega I’d always keep you full like this. You’d be dripping with my seed day and night.” He palms the warm, taut skin between her hips. “How does that make you feel?”

She moans as he flexes into her again, and his stomach drops with worry.

“What is it?”

“I j-just feel so full,” Rey chokes out, her voice shaking as his terminus bends hers out of shape. “It’s so intense…”

“I know, kitten — you’re doing such a great job taking a thick cock like mine,” Ben croons, stroking her hair back from her perspiration-beaded brow. “This wouldn’t be so bad if you’d been properly broken in before, but you’re being really brave.” The bench is just wide enough for him to sink back on his haunches, and he draws the half-wrecked Omega along with him, careful not to jostle her too much. “Is this any better?”

Rey shakes her head. “I’m cold, and you’re so deep inside me, Daddy …  _ so _ deep, it’s overwhelming—”

— _ yes babygirl locked inside you nice and tight where I belong _ —

Ben’s fingers tighten on her hips as she writhes; the aria of tightening muscles in her belly sends shockwaves through his own body, making him stiffen into her with redoubled need. 

His heart throbs painfully as she whimpers. “Let’s turn you around, baby.  _ Carefully. _ ”

To his relief she follows his wordless directions, gradually twisting herself around on his knot-thickened shaft, drawing her leg up against her bare tits over where they’re joined. Finally she’s splayed over Ben the other way, panting and clinging to his chest like a shipwreck survivor as her sweet weight presses into his lap. 

“How’s that?”

A shiver racks her spine. “The b-bench.” 

Of course — the chill slats are bound to be uncomfortable as hell. They’re certainly not helping Ben’s knees any, and at least he’s got his clothes on. 

He slips out of his suit jacket, leaning his grad student forward against his chest to wrap it around her naked body before resettling her over his thighs. She looks perversely cute like this, bare and half-wrecked and utterly full of him. “Better?”

She nods, her caramel eyes hectic as they lock on his.

“Good.” Ben cups her jaw and brushes his lips against hers — lightly at first but then with growing need. He teases her, probing the unfamiliar sweetness of her mouth with his tongue until he can’t wait any longer.

“Not again, Professor,” she pleads, but he’s already enveloping her within his iron embrace, keeping her still as he flexes his hips in slow circles, grinding into her. “I can’t bear it, I really can’t…”

“ _ Yes _ , again, sweetheart. As many times as it takes.”

He pistons into her harder, punishing her for her defiance, wrecking her on his stony phallus until she’s a shivering mess in his arms.

“Daddy…” she breathes. “Oh, Daddy…”

“Try to ride me, honey.” His voice is strained, hoarse as he works in her. “I need you, Rey.”

“You need me to  _ come _ ,” she mutters, the words dull-edged and mutinous.

“No.” Ben fists her hair, forcing her to meet his gaze as he surges in her like the sea. “I need  _ you _ , Omega. All of you.”

Her lower lip trembles as she stares at him.

“Tell me why it can’t be like this between us.” Ben throbs as he slows, more from her soft gasp than the euphoric sensation of bottoming out in her. “Why do you keep running from me?”

“Because you’re the last person I should—” She gulps for breath as he strains into her brimming sex again. And again. And again. “— _ f-fuck _ .”

“I’m not talking about fucking, Rey.” He traces a line of soft, wet kisses from the corner of Rey’s mouth to the hollow beneath her jaw, the headwaters of all in her that’s pleading to be defiled. “I want more. I want  _ everything _ from you.”

She lets out a whimper as he reaches the black ribbon over her mating gland, planting her hands against his chest and vainly struggling to push him away. “You can’t mean it — and don't _ do _ that—"

“I can’t see anything else when you’re around. Just you,” Ben rumbles, thudding into her faster, harder as he admits the truth. “Only you.”

“That’s not true,” Rey wails softly, nuzzling into him despite her protests. “That’s  _ impossible _ …”

He catches her hips in his too-large hands, his intrusions becoming violent as Rey moans dreamily and he drags her down onto him harder. “Give yourself to me.”

“Daddy— Daddy, please—” He can taste it, taste  _ her _ loving and hating his touch as her fingers twist in his shirt and she tilts her hips to meet his brutish advances. “Oh  _ fuck _ , Daddy, don’t stop, take me hard—”

“You’re not alone, babygirl,” he forces through clenched teeth, the cadence of her ass slapping against his jeans a testament to how hard he’s fucking her. 

He’s close, so close, his knot and phallus rhythmically tugging and thrusting in her soaked core, bringing them both closer to the unseen horizon.

_ Now now bite her take her NOW _ —

Ben reaches up to rip the courting ribbon from her neck — but astonishingly she bats his hand aside like she was ready for him, knotting her fingers in his hair as the brilliant edge flickers higher.

“Neither are you, Daddy,” Rey murmurs, and her dark amber eyes pierce him to his soul.

She yanks Ben close, and the soft, wet drawl of her tongue against his distended mating gland sends a surge of pleasure through his every nerve.

It’s so thoroughly unexpected, so primeval and voltaic that next thing he knows he’s rutting in her mindlessly, savagely, taking her like Briseis, like he already owns her, the darkness unleashed not by his own will but Rey’s own wanton touch.

“Fuck fuck oh  _ fuck _ babygirl—”

Now it’s  _ his _ fingers that are white-knuckling the park bench, threatening to splinter the wood as he violates her ruthlessly, snapping his hips again and again until she’s coiled tight and trembling around his lust-swollen cock.

Ben gnashes at her courting ribbon like a wolf — but she’s ready for him, turning his head aside with another touch of her fingers.

Her lips are pressed to his own gland in the next heartbeat, and her tongue flicks over his swollen, tender skin … but worse than merely licking, she  _ sucks  _ him.

Once. Hard. Dragging at his skin like she wants to leave a hickey.

It’s enough to bring him to the brink.

“ _ Shit _ ,” Ben growls, pounding into her mercilessly as rapture pours out of his gland to spiral through his body. “Take me, princess, take all of me—”

She clings to him, and he crushes his mouth to hers just in time to cover her strained cry as she finds her release.

One, two, three cruel thrusts against Rey’s drum-tight cervix and he’s there, too, purging himself in her perfect cunt, devastating her and cradling her and filling her to the hilt until his knot finally eases and the lap of his jeans floods with their mingled slick and spend.

_ My Omega. Mine. _

* * *

Ben waits for her in the illuminated lobby of the Plutt Building, feeling more conspicuous by the moment.

Not that there’s any reason he shouldn’t be here. Night may’ve fallen but it’s still not scandalously late; his suit jacket hangs over his arms before him casually enough, concealing the visage if not the scent of their efflux.

Then he sees Phasma, and his stomach drops.

The librarian’s wearing her tailored jacket and carrying a tote bag, so she’s probably headed out for the night — but even through the reflection-splashed windows Ben can see her icy gaze is squared in a glare.

No. She can’t come in here. The scent of rutting that’s clinging to his jeans is bad enough, but if she’s still standing here when Rey reemerges from the bathroom…

He promised.

_ Daddy’s gonna protect you, babygirl. Keep you safe, no matter what, you’re mine to destroy, mine ONLY _ …

Ben shoulders the glass door open and saunters outside, trying to look casual even with his suit jacket folded before him. “So, about that ILL request…”

“Oh,  _ now _ you’ve got time,” the pale amazon snorts behind her face mask, deliberately sidestepping him. “You’ll have to talk to me about that tomorrow, Solo, I am  _ thoroughly _ off the clock.”

_ Good. _

He breathes easier once Phasma’s lanky silhouette disappears into the darkness in the direction of the north parking garage — and only then does he slip back into the Plutt Building’s lobby to wait for Rey.

Ben waits. Five minutes. Ten. What’s taking so long?

Maybe he hurt her.

The idea takes root like a poisonous seed, and finally it outweighs his discomfort enough to knock on the restroom door. “Rey?”

Silence.

He raps again — louder now.

Still nothing. The tension in his stomach becomes sickening.

With a furtive glance around to make sure no one’s standing there staring at him — _ babygirl could be hurt babygirl could need us GO SAVE HER _ — he nudges the swinging door open and darts inside.

It’s such a trespass to be in here at all that he blinks stupidly at the open stall doors for a few too-long moments, trying to understand what he’s seeing.

She’s not in here.  _ No one _ is.

Ben’s heart slams sickeningly, his throat abruptly dry.

It’s impossible. He watched her walk through that very door, and then he waited, until—

_ Phasma _ . He’d thought his back was only turned for a few moments to distract her, but Rey must’ve snuck out the lobby’s far door when he wasn’t looking.

She’s eluded him.  _ Again _ .

Frustration simmers in Ben’s gut like fire, scalding tongues of flame lashing at him within as he stalks back out of the restroom, across the lobby and into the darkling night.

He should’ve claimed her when he had the chance. Instead she’d teased him, nearly popping him before vanishing.

“Never again,” Ben growls to himself as he strides back to his car, mind whirling with depraved plans and thwarted lust.

For once in his life, the shadow behind his eyes wholeheartedly agrees.


	6. Your Body Belongs to Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Oh right, _now_ you’re Mr. Ethical.”
> 
> Then he’s on his feet, too, palms flat on his desk, propping up his lanky frame as he leans forward to glare at her. “What do you want from me, Rey?”
> 
> Rage sings in her ears, deafening as a waterfall, so overwhelming that she can’t even remember how to speak. 
> 
> _I want you to teach me, I want to grow, I want to be there alongside you — Daddy, don’t throw me away, not like this…_
> 
> “You need a teacher,” he growls as though reading her thoughts. “And I can’t be that for you.”
> 
> His words are such a blow that she gasps, the sound ragged with pain. “So that’s it? You’re just … _done_ with me?”
> 
> “ _Never,_ ” Solo growls, and Rey’s lost in the midnight crucible of his gaze as they stare at each other. “But you know what I want, babygirl."
> 
> He can only mean one thing.
> 
> 🖤

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi ho, I’m crawling back out of the Sarlacc pit with an update! I’m so sorry I haven’t gotten back to some truly lovely comments; honestly, I was overwhelmed and depressed and sorta felt unworthy of kindness. I’m going to try to get back to y’all asap — thank you so much for reading this story!!
> 
> 🖤
> 
> **Recent updates:**  
>  \+ [The Fall of the New Republic](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26667781) | In which Butler Ben Solo confronts the possibility of a different sort of future with his boss and secret love, outgoing senator Rey Niima. Softboi Ben and gentle Domme!Rey for those who need a touch of tenderness!  
> 🖤 **One-shot live as of 28 September 2020**
> 
> \+ [Alliance](https://archiveofourown.org/works/25197892/chapters/61070086) | Fiery swordswoman Khthonia Fern teams up with mysterious bounty hunter Raz to rescue a kidnapped princess in a gritty original fantasy romance.  
> 🖤 **Chapter 8 | Beyond** is live as of 13 September 2020  
> 🖤 **Chapter 9 | Open Water** is live as of 26 September 2020
> 
> \+ [Craving Kylo](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14951468/chapters/34645847) | Programmer Rey Jakkusen agrees to become the BDSM submissive of tech titan Kylo Ren — but can she fulfill her contract without losing her heart?  
> 🖤 **Chapter 15 | Bark & Bight** is live as 17 August 2020  
> 🖤 **Chapter 16 | Leaves from a Lonely Vine** is coming soon!
> 
> **On deck:**  
>  \+ **Secret Monstober Project** is coming soon!
> 
>   
> 

Another surge of panic floods Rey’s veins — duller now than before, but still frigid with accusation.

She’d nearly bitten him.

His mating gland had been  _ right there _ , swollen and straining through his skin, ripe with need. And fuck, in that moment she’d  _ wanted _ to do it. Submit to him — to Professor Ben Solo, his thick cock splitting her to her core, spilling waves of cum into her belly as he fucked the strength from her naked body.

He’d been so strangely tender as he wrapped his suit jacket around her … and so distracted as he confronted the Amazonian librarian outside Plutt Hall a few minutes later, making it altogether too easy for Rey to slip away.

And she’d needed that, too. To escape him — not ritualistically as before, in the hopes of being caught, but in earnest. To clear her head of his pheromones and the way his very nearness made her feel drunk, fractured. It was like she was breaking apart as something ancient coalesced beneath her skin, urging her irresistibly, inexorably to  _ obey _ —

“What the hell am I going to do?”

It’s only as Rose strokes her shoulder that Rey realizes she’s mumbled the words aloud. Her friend’s expression is pained, but for an altogether different reason than the one torturing Rey’s thoughts: “I know, sweetie. And I’m  _ so _ sorry you can’t stay with me—”

“No, it’s alright, I understand.” Her voice trembles with a dry laugh, and she pats Rose’s hand, trying to reassure her. “Lord knows your place is a tight squeeze anyway when it’s just you and Paige — and now with your parents—”

“We haven’t had to bunk in the same room since middle school, and it is  _ exactly _ as uncomfortable as it was back then,” Rose grumbles, her typically-sunny countenance darkening in a scowl before she composes herself. “Not that I’m complaining, I’m  _ very _ happy Mom and Dad are staying with us, but—”

“It really  _ is _ fine.” Rey gives her friend’s hand an extra squeeze, and to her relief, Rose’s self-recriminating expression eases a bit. “I’ll figure something out.”

“Of all the times for your building’s boiler to break, right ahead of this cold snap thing…” Rose sighs, shaking her head before catching herself. “I’m just saying, Grummgar doesn’t seem like the greatest landlord  _ anyway _ , I can’t imagine how he’ll be at handling  _ this _ .”

That’s fair enough — and Rey grunts in quiet acknowledgement.

“You should put on a sweater, honey.”

“Don’ wanna,” she sulks, but she knows Rose is right. Without the welcome tinkling of heat running through the pipes every few minutes the apartment’s fast growing cold, and the proliferation of candles that she’s stationed along the outer wall are doing nothing to beat back the creeping chill.

“Out of curiosity, um … how do you remember which is the clean pile and which is the dirty pile?” Rose asks slowly as Rey rummages through the laundry cairn flanking one end of the pullout.

Rey resists the impulse to sniff the oversized camel-brown sweater as she yanks it out of the precarious stack. Instead she nods, indicating the pillow and quilt rucked up beside her, then the heap of equally-mussed clothes at the other end of the loveseat. “Clean stuff at the head of the bed, dirty at the foot.”

“Right, how silly of me,” Rose snorts. “Who needs hampers, let alone  _ bureaus _ with a system  _ this _ elegant.”

Rey’s dragging the sweater on over her tee and leggings, chambering a tart reply —  _ If I get a bureau I’ll have to sleep in one of the drawers  _ — when her front door slams open.

A thrill races down her spine.

_ He’s here he’s here Daddy found me _ —

She’s so completely expecting to see his hulking shape eclipse her threshold that for a moment he’s actually standing there, dark as a thunderhead.

“Finn!” Rose exclaims — and the spell’s broken. Rey blinks furiously, but there’s no explanation for it; their friend looks nothing like the dour game designer, no matter how much she squints. “What took you so long?”

“I — uh—” Finn stammers as he unhooks his mask from around his ears. Her heart slams with worry at his gasping breaths — is he having an anxiety attack? — but then the scent from the corridor reaches Rey, and she realizes why his eyes are heavy-lidded.

The aroma is alluring, promising an answer to her hunger and thirst while whispering of deeper secrets still … but it’s just a pale echo of how  _ he _ makes her feel. The Alpha she nearly tried to claim for her own.

“Oh.  _ Oh _ .” Even Rose — less susceptible to this kind of scented invitation than she and Finn are — straightens, absentmindedly drawing her scarf up to shield her mouth and nose as it hits her. “Wow, that is  _ potent _ … uh, would you mind closing the door?”

“Hmm? Oh, yeah.” Finn yanks the door shut a little too enthusiastically, and the whole apartment shivers. “Sorry, I ran into your neighbor.”

“Ah.” Rey doesn’t even need to ask which one; it looks like the doe-eyed Alpha in Unit 4 might soon have another willing victim if Finn’s gooey expression is anything to go by.

“Not like  _ that _ ,” Finn snaps, but his cheeks flush guiltily all the same. “He filled me in about your boiler situation.”

“Filled you, in, huh?” Rey asks lightly, laughing as he glares at her.

“We already know it’s broken, sweetie,” Rose patiently tells Finn.

“Yeah, but do you know  _ why? _ ” He works the dramatic pause like a taffy puller, eyebrows twitched halfway to his hairline, glancing between Rey and Rose before announcing: “Meth head.”

“ _ What?! _ ” Rey hears Rose yelling at the same time as the word leaves her lips.

“I know, right? Looks like they bashed it to shit with a heavy piece of pipe or something.”

“Finn, you are  _ entirely _ too excited about that!” Rose twitches her head in disbelief, utterly aghast. “This is Rey’s  _ home _ — who knows what would’ve happened if they’d gotten upstairs!”

Both of them turn to look at her.

“Meth head in the basement with a lead pipe.” Rey offers a nonchalant shrug. “Guess that’s 2020 for ya, innit?”

Finn has the decency to laugh, but Rose glowers at her in maternal exasperation. “ _ Rey _ , be serious! Can you imagine what could’ve happened if—”

“Oh c’mon, it’s not like I have anything worth—” 

An icy knot clenches in Rey’s gut, and she breaks off as she remembers the one thing of value in her apartment, an object so foreign that she’d forgotten about it completely.

But the Centurion’s still safely stowed on her corner shelf; all her instinctive lunge to check it accomplishes is drawing her friends’ attention to the compact CPU.

“Is that what I think it is?” Finn demands, darting closer to inspect it.

“It looks an awful lot like something I saw promo’d at E3.” Rose squints up at her. “Who’d you jack this from?”

“I-It’s Professor Solo’s actually,” Rey stammers as her cheeks burn — but it’s more or less the truth. Mercifully, Rose and Finn seem to accept the explanation easily enough, suspicion ebbing away at her words.

“Man, I’d wish  _ I’d _ gotten to be one of his TAs,” Finn grumbles.

It takes everything Rey has not to snort with laughter.

But the mention of the professor brings a renewed dread, one the apartment’s gathering chill only heightens until her skin is singing with awareness.

The e-mail… She’s been so preoccupied with the apartment’s failing heat that she’d forgotten for a few hours — maybe even willfully — that today is the college’s add/drop deadline, and she has a journey to make.

_ Fuck _ .

She must be pulling a face, because Rose squints at her again. “What is it, babe?”

“Just remembered I have to go to campus today. Nnh.”

Finn tears himself away from drooling over the Centurion long enough to shoot her that same pitying look. “Need a hard-copy signature, huh? That shit’s whack.”

“Actually, I, uh, have to turn in my TA paperwork,” Rey admits.

“Rey!” Rose scolds. “You left that until  _ today? _ Oh  _ honey _ …”

“Well I didn’t exactly expect for my boiler to get smashed up by a Clue villain, did I?” Rey rubs her forehead, like that’s somehow going to soothe her burgeoning headache — to say nothing of the chill, swampy sweat that’s oozing from her pores. “I’ll manage it somehow.”

“If this is an anxiety thing, I can give you a ride,” Rose offers, helpful to the last — and utterly unaware of how her kind offer makes Rey crumble inside. She turns to look at Finn. “You can hold things down here while we’re gone, can’t you?”

“Yeah, definitely!”

Rey glares sourly at Finn, but he shrugs, wide-eyed and equally lost.

“What? I mean, if you don’t want help...”

How can she possibly explain her reluctance, the reason she’s waited until the absolute last minute to physically stop by Dr. Solo’s office to sign her TA agreement? If the game designer had been  _ anyone _ but her professor it would’ve been altogether easy to admit the truth to her friends — especially after seeing Finn’s knock-kneed reaction to her Alpha neighbor.

But he isn’t. And so she can’t.

“Come on,” Rose coaxes. “We’ll swing by Professor Solo’s office, sign your papers, and be back here to figure out a game plan for where you can stay until your landlord sorts this out.”

Finn frowns at her. “Wait, why can’t Rey stay here?”

“In an apartment with no heat?” Rose stands, already poking through her satchel for her keys. “C’mon, be real, Finn. I’ll be surprised if Grummgar gets this dealt with in a week, let alone by the end of the day. Sorry, love,” she adds, tossing Rey another apologetic glance before smiling firmly. “But we’ll get this taken care of, one thing at a time. A quick signature or two should be easy enough, right?”

“Right,” Rey echoes dully as the gnawing pit in her gut seethes.

It  _ should _ be easy. But the hairs prickling on the nape of her neck assure her that dealing with her landlord will be the easier of today’s tasks by far.

* * *

Finn ushers Rey out of her own apartment on tides of assurances that he’ll keep up the pressure on Grummgar — and maybe it’s her own obsessive thoughts, but she can’t help wondering if his enthusiasm to stick around is due to the Alpha in Unit 4, whom the lobby mailboxes announce as one  _ P. Dameron _ . Or maybe it’s the Centurion; she invited Finn to poke around her Steam library, but he hardly seemed to be listening.

Definitely  _ P. Dameron _ , then.

Rose, meanwhile, is clearly delighted to have an excuse to be out of her own too-small apartment; she seems perfectly happy to wait in the bumper-to-bumper Friday afternoon traffic, chattering happily as Rey gathers her scattered wits.

The email from Solo reminding her that he was holding her paperwork hostage — couched in the appropriately disinterested and therefore unimpeachable language, of course — was sent That Night, but she hadn’t seen it until the following morning. And since then … nothing.

Which is worse, in a way. Because she knows he’s out there.

Waiting for her.

And there’s no avoiding him any longer. Surely today of all days there’ll be enough starry-eyed students pleading for his signature — and his time — that he won’t have any resources to waste on one wayward teaching assistant.

No matter how much her conflicted thoughts might whisper otherwise.

* * *

Rey lurks in the corridor outside the frosted double doors to the Digital Media department, heart thudding sickeningly as she fumbles in her satchel for the tiny, nearly-empty bottle.

The hallway is busier than she was expecting, but people are masked and staying well apart, darting away from each other like spooked fish. There’s plenty of room for her to turn to face the wall, pretending like she’s simply adjusting the sand-colored scarf that covers her from the bridge of her nose to her collarbones.

The aerosolized liquid is a cool gasp against her throat, and she shivers. The pheromone neutralizer probably won’t be as effective without spraying it directly on her mating gland, but she doesn’t dare  _ touch _ the black courting ribbon, let alone move it aside. Not even for a moment. Already the secret muscles deep in her belly are tingling with anticipation, her absorbent panties dampening with the promise of slick.

It’s utterly unfair that Solo has this effect on her.

One of the department’s doors swings open as someone emerges — and her heart stops, hammering with redoubled force as she confirms it isn’t  _ him _ .

Maybe she should’ve asked Rose to come with her — strength in numbers and all that. But her friend had seemed entirely ready to hole up in her sedan for a long haul.

“Take your time, I’ll be here!” Rose had assured her, beaming as she screwed in her earbuds and swiped her phone awake, reclining the driver’s seat a few notches as Rey closed the passenger door.

It probably wouldn’t have made a difference if she’d brought a phalanx of companions; no doubt he’s planned for that. All it would take is a simple request to please give them a moment of privacy — financial arrangements like this are a delicate matter, after all…

And Omega or not, surely no one could resist that low, melodic voice.

She has to do it. Now. Quickly. Just get it over with.

Her sleeved arm slips on the door, but she fumbles her way into the quiet suite. The office receptionist, wan Mr. Canady, seems inundated with phone calls behind the plexiglass semicircle girding his desk — “No, you’re looking for Professor Kandia … I’m Canady,  _ Moden _ Canady!” — so Rey’s relieved to have spent so much time showing her undergrads the departmental map, because she already knows where she’s going.

_ Quickly, quickly, quickly... _

The faculty offices are tucked away down a rectangular cul-de-sac, doorways spaced a polite distance apart. Her stomach swoops at the thought of privacy — but then a door opens, and she dodges aside as a masked student emerges, eyes briefly meeting hers as they pass.

So not  _ totally _ private, then.

Then it’s before her. Office 306, which a neatly-printed sign informs her belongs to  _ Dr. Benjamin Solo _ . Like she wouldn’t already know that from the mouthwatering aroma that’s concentrated here, as though seeping through the cracks between the door and its frame.

Rey’s pulse flutters in her throat as she knocks — and she’s tensed, ready to retreat and try to find a workaround when the silence is broken by a melodic if muffled “ _ Enter _ .”

Her hand turns the knob before she’s ready, and she squints, peering into the darkness beyond the threshold. “Professor?”

“Rey. Come in.”

She slips past the door, and it closes behind her with a click that’s too loud in the muted space. The air has the same sort of hush as the design labrooms — as much as she remembers from her tour last spring, at any rate — and of course it’s permeated with Solo’s rich aroma, his Alpha musk trickling over her tongue like honey.

If there are any windows in the office they’ve been blacked out or covered. Only a few shapes emerge from the relative gloom; shelves that hold more awards than books, their crystalline vertices glittering in the near-dark. Azure sconces glow on the walls, fading to warm light beyond a desk at the far end of the narrow chamber.

And behind the desk, the one person she dreads, obsesses over, longs to see.

Professor Solo’s expression is stern — or maybe he’s just concentrating as he types a few final things into his slim keyboard and turns to face her. The entire room lies between them, but Rey can still  _ feel _ his focus on her, the way his gaze is cradling her body even through the baggy sweater.

His glasses flash with his monitor’s light as he unhooks his mask from behind his ears and sets it aside, but his plush lips hardly move. “Have a seat.” 

“I-I just came to sign my TA agreement.” She hates the way her voice sounds timid amid the velvet silence. A pale rectangle of paper lies on his desk, positioned squarely before him. “If you’ve got it ready—”

“Like I said, have a seat,” Solo repeats, his eyes darker than his office’s shadows. 

A shiver runs through her thighs, and she shifts awkwardly, trying to hide it as she jerks her thumb toward the door. “My friend’s actually waiting…”

“Rey.”

The word is rich with warning — and she has to clamp her fingers into fists to stop from scratching herself as a vicious itching rolls through her skin like thunder.

It’s unbelievable.  _ Unreal _ . She downed a double dose of blockers this morning, just before turning on the shower to find the hot water mysteriously absent, yet it’s like they were nothing but placebos.

There’s nothing that can save her from him now. Nothing but willpower — and even  _ that’s _ fast eroding as she finds herself walking forward, dreamily obeying even though he hasn’t used an Alpha Command on her.

Not like last time.

But something’s different; his fiery-eyed hunger is being tempered by an unfamiliar steeliness. He’s holding back … and that self-restraint is what makes Rey’s stomach drop with worry as she sinks into the chair before his desk. Her mask is only making the itching on her cheek and throat worsen; she pulls it down, letting her scarf slouch loosely around her neck.

“I actually wanted to talk to you about your TA agreement.” He slides his compact keyboard out of the way and settles his arm beside the stapled papers, tapping them with a graceful forefinger. “Part of being an academic advisor is impartiality. I need to be able to judge you fairly, particularly when viewed shoulder to shoulder with your classmates.” He pauses, and a tendon jumps in the hollow of his cheek as he grits his jaw. “And I think we both know this connection between us isn’t going away.”

It’s like she’s falling away into some bottomless pit as she waits for him to finish his thought.

“So I’m transferring you to Dr. Kandia. She’ll be able—”

“ _ No! _ ”

Pain blooms in the backs of Rey’s calves as she jumps to her feet hard enough to send the chair skidding backward.

Solo scowls. “I’m sorry?”

“ _ No _ .” Her vision twitches to the beat of her pulse as she glares down at him, not turned on but  _ furious _ . “You’re not going to just deny me and — a-and shove me off on someone else!”

“I’m not shoving you off,” he snaps, glowering up at her. “I’m trying to do the right thing!”

“Oh right,  _ now _ you’re Mr. Ethical.”

Then he’s on his feet, too, palms flat on his desk, propping up his lanky frame as he leans forward to glare at her. “What do you want from me, Rey?”

Rage sings in her ears, deafening as a waterfall, so overwhelming that she can’t even remember how to speak. 

_ I want you to teach me, I want to grow, I want to be there alongside you  _ —  _ Daddy, don’t throw me away, not like this... _

“You need a teacher,” he growls as though reading her thoughts. “And I can’t be that for you.”

His words are such a blow that she gasps, the sound ragged with pain. “So that’s it? You’re just …  _ done _ with me?”

“ _ Never _ ,” Solo growls, and Rey’s lost in the midnight crucible of his gaze as they stare at each other. “But you know what I want, babygirl.”

He can only mean one thing.

Rey’s sex clenches as the Alpha stalks around his desk, never once looking away as he moves close, until he’s beside her and she has to lift her chin in order to look at him squarely. As though he needed another advantage; it’s like evolution itself is mocking her.

Her gland pulses greedily beneath her courting ribbon as his gaze drops to her throat.

“I-I can’t be your mate,” she manages as he reaches for the line of black velvet. “I don’t want it, p-please—”

“Reyling…” Solo croons, but he only runs his fingertip along the ribbon’s edge, caressing her where the fabric gives way to her bare skin and chuckling softly as she writhes. “You  _ severely _ overestimate this little thing and its ability to stop me.”

The courting ribbon may not offer much protection, but mercifully the musical trill of her phone makes him pause. 

She shoves her hand into her satchel, the cold pit in her stomach cramping tight. For a moment she’s relieved to see it’s not a message from Rose — but worse, it’s from Finn.

> _ Grummgar says might be 2 weeks for new boiler, won’t be more specific than that (someone’s backordered?) Sorry dude  _ 👎 _ Poe’s trying to get you guys refunds, stay tuned _

Nausea percolates through her gut.

The loss of her computer had been devastating enough — and like it or not, she’d been  _ lucky _ Solo had been there to help, her own violently conflicting emotions about the Alpha himself aside. But  _ this _ …

He dips his head, refusing to let her escape his piercing gaze as she shoves her phone back in her bag. “What’s wrong?”

“I need to buy an electric heater,” Rey admits.

“Draughty apartment?”

“You could say that.”

She might believe Solo’s buying it if not for the way his eyes crinkle with suspicion.

“ _ Rey _ ,” he growls.

“What?” She matches his scowl, damn the way her cringing Omega instincts make her want to lie back on his desk and splay herself before him. “It’s not  _ my _ fault the boiler’s broken.”

His answer comes almost before she’s finished speaking: “You’re staying with me.”

“ _ No _ .”

“Dammit, Rey!” he snaps, the deep basso rumble making her shake. “Why do you have to be so fucking  _ willful? _ ”

“Who are you to even call me that?” Rey hisses. She points at the TA agreement lying on his desk, a seemingly innocent stack of stapled pages that are the root of so much grief. “I’m not even your advisee anymore,  _ Professor _ .”

Solo’s chin twitches higher, recoiling like her words have stung him. 

“So what’s your plan, then?” he asks coldly. “You must have one, if you’re turning me down so instinctively.”

“I’ll stay at an AirBnb or something.”

“In the middle of a pandemic?” He nudges his glasses higher on the bridge of his nose as though to glare down at her even more sternly. “At least stay with a friend, don’t be so reckless with your finances. No wonder—”

Abruptly, he clamps his perfect, pouty lips into a bloodless line.

“What?” Rey demands, her hackles seizing in a burning wave. “No wonder  _ what? _ ”

He huffs a few slow breaths through his nose before answering: “No wonder you’re broke all the time.”

A mortified gasp pops past Rey’s lips, and she shudders.

To be judged by  _ him  _ of all people… 

There are no words.

She turns, mindlessly seeking the door and an escape from this walking nightmare — but his arm lashes out in front of her like a gate of flesh and bone, palm slamming against the wall and making the forest of crystalline trophies shiver.

Rey yelps, but he’s inescapable, backing her against a barren stretch of wall as his dark gaze seethes. “Why are you torturing me like this, Omega?”

God, his breath is like mead, making her drunk even as that broken sliver of her mind rages with fury. “I’m not  _ Omega _ — my name is  _ Rey! _ ”

Solo looks positively lost as he squints down at her. “Why does that distinction bother you so much?”

“Has it ever even  _ occurred _ to you that someone might not  _ want _ to be an Omega? To be just a body to get fucked and claimed by an Alpha when  _ he _ decides it’s time?” Iron sobs tighten her throat, choking her words — and tears prick her eyes as he caresses her cheek and her sex convulses with wanting. “T-To have your body threaten everything that matters, everything you’ve dreamt of — and you’re just being dragged along by —  _ th-this? _ ”

“Rey,” he begins, but they both jump at the sudden rapping at the door.

“Professor Solo?”

“Canady,” the dark man breathes. “Mask.”

Rey just barely manages to pull her scarf up over her nose before Solo’s back at his desk, seated and masked.

“Yes?” he calls.

The door creaks open, spilling a slice of brilliant light from the corridor into the gloom as the pale receptionist leans past the door jamb. “Sorry to disturb, but, er, Professor Erso heard a noise… Someone banged on the wall?”

“Sorry about that, I tripped over my own feet,” Solo offers with a wry laugh that sells the lie. “Please apologize to Jyn for me.”

“Righto, will do — sorry for intruding!”

The door clicks shut, and they’re alone in the breathless silence again.

“ **Come here** .”

The Command is quiet, but evidently he’s taking no chances now. 

Rey reluctantly trudges to his side, the echoes of her heartbeat reverberating through her from her soles to the tip of her tongue — but when he catches her hips, he only maneuvers her to stand beside his chair, leaning comfortably against his desk.

“I could lose everything because of this,” he mutters, cheeks blotching as he indicates the massive swelling in his pants.  _ Fuck _ , it shouldn’t send that electric thrill of need through her cunt as she stares at his lap, his thigh warming hers through the layers of her leggings and his trousers — but then he’s speaking again: “Ever since I met you, every possible line in my head has gotten blurred. I’m becoming the thing I’ve been fighting for so long.”

Solo leans forward, holding her waist loosely as his breath warms her tits through her sweater. He’s staring ahead, but not lecherously — and Rey tentatively smooths his hair back from his temples. It’s unbelievably soft, charcoal-dark tendrils drawing through her fingers like ribbons of satin.

“I’m tired of fighting it, Rey,” he mumbles, and his fingers tighten on her hips as he leans into her, laying his cheek against the swell of her breasts. “Stay with me.”

She staggers against him, but his arms lock about her waist and he nuzzles into her more desperately, like he’s drunk on her, too. She doesn’t even realize what he’s doing until she sees the way his mating gland’s standing out against the column of his neck — smells the way his scent’s growing stronger, commingling with her own as the knit fabric dampens.

“Stop it,” she murmurs.

“Stop what?” Solo growls as he presses himself into her, his huge hands starting to wander over the globes of her arse.

“Stop  _ marking _ me.”

“Not until I’m sure you’re mine.” He chuckles softly. “Is this your first heat?”

“ _ Heat _ ?” Rey’s heart slams sickeningly. “N-No, I—“

“You can’t fight your own body.” Solo inhales with disgusting deliberation, seeming to savor it more as she wriggles in his grip. “I can smell how ripe you are. Your pussy’s  _ begging _ for a thick cock.  _ My _ cock.”

“No,” she moans, trying to deny it even as her cunt clenches and the ancient Omega voice chants  _ yesyesyes _ —

“Like it or not, sweetheart, this is what we are. Alpha and Omega. So if you want me like  _ that _ —” He nods at the TA agreement still sitting on his desk. “—then you have to take me like this, too.”

“As my  _ mate? _ ”

“As your Alpha.” Solo twitches his head in disbelief. “God, to fuck you through your first heat…”

The growl shudders through his chest, and then the world spins, breath shattering from Rey’s lungs as he surges to his feet, flipping her onto her back on the nearly-barren desk.

He pulls her legs up, holding them straight along the length of his torso, and she’s so disoriented that she hardly notices his hand brushing against the underside of her thighs, or the jangling draw of his belt and then his zipper unfastening. She gasps at the fiery husk of her leggings and knickers scraping her skin as he yanks them to her mid-thighs.

The desk is cool beneath her fingers as she scrabbles for purchase, but it’s already too late. 

One of his arms snakes around Rey’s legs, pinning her bent body against him as he stands over her. She arches her spine, keening as he notches something hot and dull and thick against her where she’s wettest, luring her with a beautiful agony.

His arm tightens about her imprisoned thighs, trapping them against his lower belly — and he grunts as he thrusts into her, spitting her on his length in a single harsh flex of his hips.

Rey whines at the overwhelming fullness of him; his intrusion shoves every thought from her mind, each fresh throb of his cock making her shiver. He’s warm and unyielding, lodged in her drenched channel like a stone, shifting inside her ever so slightly as he splays his free hand against the sensitive valley between her hips.

Solo’s ink-dark gaze burns with hunger as his palm skims lower, and he works his thumb between her clenched thighs, finding the firm bud of her clit. He taunts her with relentless circles, using her helpless, writhing movements to fuck deeper into her.

And his eyes — always that gaze, fierce as a tempest, holding her and soothing her into submission.

“Like leggings could keep me away from you — or whatever crap you’ve used on your throat,” Solo groans as he pumps inside her, his rhythm languid and torturous. His cock is like a piston greased with her own slick, coaxing moans from her lips as he forces her body open with his own. “Throw that shit out, understand? I don’t ever want to smell it on you again.”

“Yes, Daddy,” she mumbles.

An eldritch light burns in his eyes at the taboo word — and he pauses long enough to force her left leg back up through the forgiving fabric of her leggings and panties, not even bothering with her sneaker.. 

“ _ Fuck _ , princess,” he pants, freeing her leg and splaying her thighs before leaning back, dragging her up off the desk.

Rey yelps as Solo drops back into his armless computer chair, fingers knotting helplessly in his cardigan as he fully impales her on his rock-hard phallus.

He’s so deep inside her, using her own weight to hold her down, the insides of her thighs squeaking against the edges of the pleather seat as she wriggles in his lap. “N-No … Professor, not like this, please…”

“It’s alright, honey, shh…” He strokes her hair as she draws a sobbing breath, but his embrace is like iron. “You need this, and I’m gonna give it to you. Just a little taste.”

Solo plies her with soft, slow kisses — first on her cheek as she trembles against him, then on her lips, growing ravenous as he starts to jounce her in his lap.

“Ride me,” he demands, fucking her more insistently with each passing moment.

Somehow Rey remembers how to drag her legs forward, and she loops her arms about his neck as she finds the floor with her toes. It’s just enough to brace against his lanky body, and she mewls, losing herself in the draw and thrust of his huge shaft in her cunt.

“Good girl,” Solo murmurs into her skin.

The words only make her wetter.

What feels like only a moment later his fingers tighten in her hair. Even before his growled “ _ Fuck, baby _ ” he throbs hard, his cum filling her belly as his knot swells and burns inside her like a living ember, locking them together.

She comes, too, but it’s just a pale prelude to the need that’s ravaging her core. It’s not fair — not fair that Solo’s clearly right, that she’s on the verge of the first heat of her life, that despite all of her academic successes and awards and honors, she’s utterly and completely at a loss for what to do.

Yet Solo seems completely at ease, clutching handfuls of her arse as he grinds into her knotted pussy, urging her along to the next ecstatic crest.

“I d-don’t want to go into heat here,” Rey whimpers, shuddering as rapture torques through her claimed cunt. “Please don’t make me.”

“We’re just taking the edge off, sweetheart,” he mutters into her as she struggles upward, clenching around his shaft as she rises and then sighing with relief as she sinks back onto him completely. “I’m on the verge of my rut, too.”

She leans back far enough to squint up at him. “You are?”

Solo’s soft chuckles send ripples of ecstasy through her. He’s fully sheathed in her, claiming her, owning her splintered body. “Yeah. But I won’t let it get the best of us until after we’re home.”

_ Home. _ It’s such a curious word, sending a zoetrope of flickering thoughts through Rey’s mind.

Her apartment. The boiler. Grummgar.

She hardly notices the professor slipping one of his massive hands up her sweater to paw at her breasts, scooping each tit out of its lacy fabric cup before fondling it greedily.

“You’re a perfect little Omega, babygirl. Rey.” He unwinds one of her arms from around his neck — and as he presses the inside of her wrist to his lips, a frisson of bliss twists through her. The perfect pillows of his lips brush against one of her secondary glands, stirring her through the veil of skin and provoking more of that exquisite beauty in her core. “I’d risk everything a hundred times over for you.”

“Professor, please,” she murmurs — but he’s unrelenting, drawing a gasp from her throat as he flicks the tip of his tongue against her skin.

“You’re so innocent.” His eyes burn like braziers. “Are you even ready for this?”

“Would it matter if I wasn’t?”

He grins wolfishly. “Probably not.”

It’s perverse, but her body tightens with need at the thought of him pinning her down, taking her without restraint — and Solo must feel it, too, because he milks his knot against her silken stranglehold as he withdraws, snapping his hips harder as they meet.

“Look who’s got who trapped now,” he murmurs, pulling back a whisper longer than usual, emphasizing how they’re locked together. “I couldn’t get myself out of you if I wanted to, not that I’d ever be so stupid.”

“Do you want me to stop?” Rey spears herself on Solo even harder when he returns, and a groan burrs through his broad chest. “We could wait for your knot to go down—”

“Don’t even joke about that,” the dour man growls, like a living incarnation of Byron himself as he draws her closer and fucks up into her, filling her to her core and making her quake.

Rey’s nearly at the blinding brink when a low trill behind her makes her yelp. She follows Solo’s gaze; the familiar pop-up indicating an incoming call from  _ Hux, Armitage _ blinks on his monitor.

“Shit.” He glances at her, not panicked but perturbed. “Lie back, baby, I’ve gotta take this call.”

_ What? _

There’s no time to ask if he’s mental; before Rey’s next heartbeat he’s already settled her back against his desk, and she props herself up on her elbows as he readjusts his webcam’s framing. The monitor’s angled toward her enough to see that Solo looks decent, no actual sign that he’s dick-deep in a student without even a rubber — let alone masks — for protection.

He reaches around her bare hip to click the  _ ACCEPT  _ icon, and a new pop-up window appears, the caller’s webcam feed supplanting Solo’s.

Rey clamps her lips together, trying to stifle her own panting breaths as she sees the redheaded man.

“Armie.” Solo’s all charm, the thumbnail video of him making it seem like he’s simply lounging back against his chair’s backrest, perfectly at ease. “What can I do for you, my man?”

“Oh, just thought I’d check up on you,  _ Professor _ ,” the other man chuckles, his British accent embroidered with electronic static.

The word alone makes Rey’s body react with pure need — and worse, Solo’s shaft pulses inside her, first gently and then harder as he glances at her, pretending to look around his office. “Settling in decently. How are things on your end?”

“Same shit different day.” Hux sighs. “I thought Millicent was sick, and that gave us quite a turn — but it turned out she’s  _ pregnant _ . Can you even imagine?”

Solo’s gaze is devilish as he leans to one side … and out of the webcam’s rectangular eye, one hand creeps up the inside of Rey’s bare thigh, settling over her mound. His thumb grinds against her clit, wetting her with her own slick as he squints into his webcam. “So to clarify, someone knocked up your pussy.”

The ginger man scowls. “Ha fecking ha, Benjamin. Yes, my  _ prize show cat _ has somehow gotten herself impregnated. Thank you for the gutter humor.”

“How very irresponsible of her,” Solo chides, and between the wicked glint in his eye and the way he works her harder, Rey’s body is racked with unvoiced giggles and gasps.

She glares at the professor, but he only lifts his hips a few inches, his cockhead kissing her cervix with a dazzling ache.

“Other than figuring out what the hell I’m going to do with an armload of kittens, eh…” Hux shrugs, then settles his chin on his steepled fingers, flashing his eyebrows playfully. “So how does the  _ professor _ vibe fare with the ladies, you scallywag?”

“That’s something I actually need to talk to you about.” Solo’s huge digit is massaging her too perfectly; more of this and Rey might actually come apart before he disconnects from this vidcall. “I’m going to be on an emergency leave of absence for the next week.”

“Oh.  _ You  _ mean—” The other man breaks off with a knowing laugh. “Damn, here I going off about Millie, and you’re—”

“I’ll talk to you after I’m back on the grid, Armie.” His full mouth tenses as though he’s on the brink of smiling as Rey  _ squeezes _ — but then he catches himself. “I’m sort of in the middle of something.”

“Oh come now, Benjamin, I wasn’t trying to insinuate—”

“Sorry, old bean.”

The mouse clicks beside her bare hip again, and then the intruder’s gone, his face disappearing among the monitor’s too-bright pixels.

Solo lurches upright, grunting as lifting her hips with his own and shoving her fully up onto his desk. He leans over her, claiming her mouth with his as he ruts in her fast, hard, thrusting punishingly deep.

“Just take the edge off, babygirl, wring me out a little, won’t you?” he mumbles around her lips. The points of his hips drive into the curves of her arse, and his balls slap her sensitive skin as he quickens. “Then we’re going straight home, at which point your body belongs to me … understand?”

“Mm-hmm,” Rey murmurs just as mindlessly as Solo pounds into her, over and over until all she can feel is his livid heat and her own longing for him.

_ Yes Alpha fuck me fuck me HARD _ —

“You’re going to come to the parking garage with me. You can text your friend on the way.” It’s like the plans are making him even more excited for her, because she cries out gutturally as he twitches, burning drops of precum heralding his second load. “She can bring your things to my place. We’ll file your absence over the weekend.”

Rey tries to think through the ecstasy, but it’s rushing up to take her like exultant floodwater. “A-Absence?”

“For your heat,” he mutters into her neck, his breath making her skin prickle with awareness. “You can’t go to school like this. And I damn well can’t teach. All we’re going to be able to do for the next few days is fuck.” 

His fingers knot in her hair as she whines, rapturous lightning ripping through her nerves as the orgasm takes her.

“Do you understand?”

“J-Just don’t mate me,” Rey gasps, trembling with pleasure. “Please, Daddy — Professor S-Solo — promise me…”

“Ask me no questions and I’ll tell you no lies, babygirl,” he groans, the desk shuddering beneath them as he finds his release. “ _ Fuck,  _ I’m—”

Her womb aches as his rush fills her — and not for the first time, her courting ribbon feels entirely too tight.


	7. You Have No Control Over This

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey musters enough strength to fight him as he yanks her hand out of her pants, trying to pull it out of the hoodie’s waterlogged sleeve, but Ben’s stronger. The sopping slap echoes through the bathroom as he tosses the fabric aside, but she hardly seems to notice. Nor does she flinch when he drags her sweatpants and underwear down over her feet, leaving her in only her soaked tee; she just keeps worrying at her sex, massaging herself with blind need.
> 
> _Fuck,_ she’s burning up. Her bare skin scalds his, and the rash traces twin crimson lines down opposite sides of her body from temple to toe, symmetrical and terrifying.
> 
> Blood fever.
> 
> “I just need to … get myself off…” she pants, hand still clamped between her thighs. “I don’t have … to go into … heat… I can stop it..."
> 
> **Omega!Rey’s stubbornness leaves her vulnerable to a rut-compromised Alpha!Ben — but a rough fucking may be the one thing that can save her.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YEET!!
> 
> It’s been a bit busy in the ol’ Pit of Carkoon lately, but I’ve returned with another smutty chapter and some News!
> 
> News first:  
> I’m dropping my Episode IX reboot [The Fall of Skywalker](https://twitter.com/ElegyGoldsmith/status/1260306455200182274) beginning December 1st (EST), so look for a new scene or two every day until the 20th! Last December sucked for a variety of reasons (commuting 150+ miles a day for several weeks of post-cancer radiation, TRoS, etc.), and we collectively deserve some happiness — so let’s celebrate the 20 days of TFoS-mas, culminating in a game of Addams Family-inspired **Wake the Dyad** on Dec. 20 (post something reylo on that day to join in the fun!). If you want to get the notification when it drops here on AO3, you can subscribe to me by booping the button on my profile ✨
> 
> Many thanks to my smol coven of smutty pals who introduced me to the Omegaverse; [Michelle](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mveazli), who frequently beta reads and/or holds my hand as I post chapters; and YOU for taking the time to read this dirty business!!
> 
> TO THE FILTH!!
> 
> _N.B.: If you think I might've gotten a certain concept from SW, you're not farr off!_ 🤭
> 
> **Recent updates:**  
>  \+ [Last Egg-Void Tonight](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27590822) | Shameless crack. In which Adam Driver superstan & 2020 void-dweller John Oliver meets the last person he'd ever expected.  
> 🖤 **One-shot live as of 16 November 2020**
> 
> \+ [Craving Kylo](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14951468/chapters/34645847) | Programmer Rey Jakkusen agrees to become the BDSM submissive of tech titan Kylo Ren — but can she fulfill her contract without losing her heart?  
> 🖤 **Chapter 15 | Bark & Bight is live as 17 August 2020**  
> 🖤 **Chapter 16 | Leaves from a Lonely Vine is live as of 13 November 2020**
> 
> \+ [Feed the Beast](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27252910) | Witch!Rey summons a demon, but he’s nothing like she expected. Inspired by Day 4 of Afterblossom’s Monstober 2020!  
> 🖤 **One-shot live as of 28 October 2020**
> 
> \+ [The Fall of the New Republic](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26667781) | In which Butler Ben Solo confronts the possibility of a different sort of future with his boss and secret love, outgoing senator Rey Niima. Softboi Ben and gentle Domme!Rey for those who need a touch of tenderness!  
> 🖤 **One-shot live as of 28 September 2020**
> 
> **On deck:**  
>  \+ [The Fall of Skywalker](https://twitter.com/ElegyGoldsmith/status/1260306455200182274) | The ending to the Skywalker Saga that we collectively deserved — a tale of mythic return and the final stand of both Light and Dark.  
> 🖤 **Coming December 2020!**
> 
>   
> 

She’s silent all the way back to his apartment, huddled in the passenger seat of his scream-red Velostar, eyes trained on her phone. Her thumbs draw lightning over its face, and Ben can only hope she’s doing the two things she needs to do right now, before her heat claims her.

Before _he_ claims her.

_Submit your emergency leave form._ Doubtless that’s the easier one, accomplished with just a few taps in her student portal. These things _do_ happen, after all.

_Have your friend bring your things to my place. Anything you’ll want, anything you’ll need._

That one’s bound to be harder to explain.

That the other girl had driven her to campus was a lucky stroke; Ben doesn’t dare accompany Rey back to her apartment, not with her intoxicating scent practically splashed across every surface. It’s risky enough being behind closed doors together here in his car, and he can’t let them get caught in a place without something as basic as central heating.

Besides, he’s not so stupid as to return to the scene of the crime.

Ben sighs gratefully as he throws the car into park, his assigned space in the underground garage the only thought he’s allowed himself to dwell on this whole way. He hasn’t trusted himself to think past the drab grey vault and its gasoline perfume — and now that they’re finally here, all he can see is the steely fix of her jaw and the way her cheeks are flushed with resentment.

“Rey.”

He moves to take her hand, but she flinches. 

His inner Alpha growls at that. She should feel complacent, heady from the biochemicals cascading through her body and pouring from her skin, but her stare is damn near icy.

He could Command her, but for all he knows that’ll make her even less pliant deep inside, where it truly matters. “Ready to come upstairs?”

“Fine,” she mutters, turning aside to bail out of the parked car.

Ben scowls after her as the door slams shut, discord jangling in his gut.

That’s no kind of answer for an Omega on the brink of her heat. And she _is_ there on the cliff’s-edge — that was clear enough from the way she fucked him, fell apart around him back in his office. Her lingering scent is even begging for it.

She’s on the verge.

So why’s she trying _so_ fucking hard to fight it?

* * *

She follows Ben around the apartment with the skittishness of a stray cat, eyes large as lanterns.

Sitting room. Kitchen nook. Study. It’s not sprawling by any definition, but it’s got to be three or four times larger than what she’s used to.

He doesn’t show her the bedroom. Not yet — though god knows they’ll need it soon enough.

Tendrils of her chestnut hair stick to her sweat-beaded forehead as she nods, finally acknowledging _something_. “I need a minute.”

Then she disappears into the bathroom, the lock snicking shut before Ben can even mutter a reply.

For a while he simply paces, heart thundering as he tries to figure out what the hell to do. Ancient instinct is demanding that he break down the door, _speak_ to her at least — but her strange behavior has him frozen with uncertainty.

Not that Ben’s erection has gotten the memo; he’s stiff with need, and the pacing makes his cock throb harder with every footfall. If she doesn’t reemerge soon, he’s going to burst.

Eventually his concern for her gets the best of him. He holds his breath as he nears the door and knocks, trying to block out the rich, ripe scent that teases him like a will-o’-the-wisp.

“I’m fine!” she calls quickly — but her voice is tight.

He doesn’t believe her.

Still he waits. Giving her space, knowing it’s only a matter of time before he destroys her.

* * *

The study shares a wall with the bathroom, and Ben slouches in his office chair as he bides his time, beating himself off with perfunctory efficiency. It’s unsatisfying as hell, but it’s enough to keep his mind reasonably clear — and the doorbell chimes just as he finishes wiping the spend from his softening cock.

Thank fuck for technology. He doesn’t even bother fastening his pants before bringing up the building’s app on his phone, thumbing open the comm. “Yeah?”

“I’m here for Rey.”

“Come on up.”

He’s reasonably composed by the time three sharp knocks sound at the front door, his cock hardening again but tucked away, pressed flush against his body for safekeeping as he admits the intruder.

The newcomer is short like Rey, more or less anonymous beneath her bright pink mask. Her eyes are hard with suspicion — but her scent eases the tension that’s racking his body.

A Beta. Good.

“Where is she?” the young woman asks without preamble.

“In the back. Come on in.”

He steps aside and she marches over the threshold, tossing the black athletic bag that’s slung over her shoulder onto his couch with a soft grunt. She’s wearing a backpack, too, but makes no move to let it drop as she turns back to him, glowering stormily. “I have _no_ idea what’s going on here, _Professor_ Solo — but I swear to god, if you hurt one hair on her h—”

“I’m not going to hurt her!” he snaps, dragging his hand through his hair as his cheeks flood with fire. “She’s going into heat.”

“This is so fucked up.” The girl twitches her head in disgust. “Are you even _aware_ of what an ethical trainwreck this is?”

He matches her glare. “Keenly.”

She shakes her head, sighing heavily — and Ben gestures toward the back of the apartment before she can launch into a scathing tirade.

He leaves her at the bathroom door, and she slips inside, the door snapping shut again without so much as a glimpse of the troubled Omega.

But Rey’s scent … it haunts him, elusive and inescapable as he throws himself down on the couch. The battered athletic bag is like a locus of her honeyed aroma; it’s not even zipped shut properly, the top only flipped shut, packed hastily.

Ben glances toward the narrow corridor. He’ll hear the bathroom door when it opens again — and he flicks the top of the bag open with his forefinger. His shaft pulses with heat at the fresh rush of her scent, and he grits his jaw to stay in control as he pokes through its contents.

A careworn afghan, its surface pilled with age. An equally ratty pillow, her aroma so deliciously powerful that his mouth fills. He has to clutch the edge of the couch to stop himself from rubbing it against his distended mating gland, burning in his neck like an ember.

A darker fabric catches Ben’s eye — and with another glance toward the back of his apartment, he tugs the thing higher.

At first he can’t make sense of the blocked colors and zipper-adorned faces, but then with a click he makes sense of the thing. It’s a hoodie.

And not just any hoodie — it’s a _Starkiller_ stormtrooper design. Not a recent one, either, but one of the rarified early ones from when the game was still on its way to the ionosphere.

Something akin to shame tempers Ben’s primal lust. It’s so easy to think of the game’s fans as a monolith, an anonymous sea of faces like the ones that’ve greeted him at every convention and TED talk. The idea that _she’s_ one of the faceless millions of players that put him here … it’s humbling.

Across the apartment, the bathroom door squeaks open.

The athletic bag is flipped shut again by the time Rey’s friend returns. He’s so busy trying to act normal that he misreads her knitted brow as more anger until she speaks. “I’m worried about her.”

Ben’s on his feet in a heartbeat. “How so?”

“She’s…” The short woman casts a look back toward the bathroom as the door clunks shut again. “I don’t know, exactly. I’ve just got a bad feeling.”

“Do you think she’d ask for help if she really needed it?”

“Rey?” Her bark of mirthless laughter is anything but reassuring. “Honestly, probably not. You’re going to have to keep an eye on her. A close one.”

Ben blinks stupidly; he was expecting more of a fight after the way she greeted him. “You’re comfortable leaving her here with me?”

“Do I really have a choice? This is _her_ call.” The young woman sighs, folding her arms over her chest — and maybe it’s just light bouncing off her pink mask, but she looks like she’s blushing, too. “Trust me, if I thought I could do anything to help, I would … but I’m pretty sure this is an Alpha/Omega thing.” Her gaze hardens again. “But I meant what I said before. I don’t care if you’re professor of the frickin’ year, I will fashion her a _very_ fetching set of earrings out of your testicles if you hurt her.”

A snort of laughter forces itself through Ben’s nose. “I’ll hand them over myself before I ever let that happen.”

“Good.” The word sounds surly, but the fire in her eyes eases ever-so-slightly.

“Here.” Ben snatches up the pad of sticky notes and pen he keeps on the coffee table, scribbling quickly before proffering it. “My cell. Call me day or night to check up on her. Or text, if you prefer.”

She accepts it with that same wary optimism, tucking it away in her pocket — and he realizes the backpack’s gone. She must’ve left it with Rey. “Thanks.”

“I’m Ben, by the way,” he offers.

Now it’s her turn to laugh. “Yeah, I know. Rose.”

“Nice to meet you, Rose.”

She nods, and glances back into his apartment one last time. “Let me know if she needs anything. My number’s in her phone.”

Then she brushes past him, letting herself out of the apartment with a final, unreadable look before dragging the front door shut.

* * *

Ben takes refuge in his study again, jerking it twice more before the bathroom door finally creaks open. Still, it’s only after the television in the living room clicks on that he trusts himself enough to brave the kitchen to sate his rumbling stomach.

Her scent is different, laced with a chemical tang that makes his nose wrinkle — and she glares at him from beneath the edge of her hoodie, like she’s daring him to speak as he retrieves a power bar from the cupboard.

Ben holds one up for her inspection. “Hungry?”

Rey shakes her head. Her cheeks are still that hectic red and her brow’s beaded with sweat, but she seems staunchly committed to her hoodie and sweatpants.

“I can turn up the heat if you’re cold.”

“’M fine,” she mutters, her gaze flicking back to the television, dismissing him.

Ben’s Alpha snarls again, the urge to catch her and tear those baggy clothes off her body so strong that his fingers crush the protein bar in its package.

“ _Omega!_ ”

Too harsh; her head snaps toward him, but it’s only to fix him in that surly glare.

He speaks carefully, forcing the words through his gritted jaw. “Have I … _done_ something to warrant being shut out like this?”

“No.” The fire in her gaze dulls. “N-No, it’s just… I don’t like this. How it feels.”

She scratches her neck — and even though she’s exchanged the ornate courting ribbon for her leather collar, Ben’s mouth fills as he remembers the sugar-sweet taste of her skin.

He swallows hard, his cock twitching and tingling as his inner Alpha rouses.

_Rape her, tear her clothes off and fuck her raw, fill her with cum, knot her tight, just fuck her fuck her FUCK HER_ —

“I’ve never felt like this,” Rey mutters, tucking her legs up under her body. “Like my thoughts aren’t my own. I bloody hate it.” Aching for her as he is, she looks so damn _small_ — and the anger in her eyes veils a fear so abyssal that it startles his Alpha into quieting.

Something catches in Ben’s chest. “Are you afraid of me?”

“Not _just_ you … but yeah. Of course.” She lifts her chin, and her brow knits like she’s beseeching him — and for the first time he sees the rash blotching her neck. “Doesn’t it scare you, feeling like you’re about to lose yourself?”

“I guess I’m just used to it,” Ben admits. “And I know that I can keep in control.”

A half-truth. He’s kept reasonably in control of himself during past ruts, but no partner’s ever affected him like this. Like _her_.

Fierce little Rey Niima. She watches him, fearful in a way that makes him ashamed of being an Alpha for the first time in his life — in no small part because her fear turns him on even more.

“Look, if it helps—” His Alpha roars in fury as the words manifest on his tongue. “—I promise I won’t touch you again until you’re ready.”

“And you won’t try to mate me while I’m here?” Fear and fury war in her gaze. “Because I’m not— I mean, I _can’t_ —”

“I won’t,” he vows, even as the thought of crushing her gland between his teeth makes him stiffen with agonizing need.

She nods, relaxing a little. “Okay.”

Suddenly Ben isn’t hungry anymore, and he tosses the misshapen protein bar onto the counter. “I’ll be in the bedroom.”

Rey presses her lips into a bloodless line, offering another curt nod before the flatscreen reclaims her attention — and Ben stalks away, frustrated and baffled by her strange intransigence.

He doesn’t want to traumatize her. He _can’t_.

But this can’t go on much longer.

* * *

Ben pops a weak blocker to stave off the edge of his rut, but it’s coming, rumbling through his bones like an oncoming storm as the minutes ooze past.

He tries to distract himself with some PvP on the bedroom game rig — in vain, of course. He can’t even make it a round or two before his cock throbs hungrily, and he has to disconnect to purge himself of more of the Sisyphean cum.

Finally he exhausts himself into a restless sleep racked with vivid dream of chasing, biting, fucking, lying alone in the bed that _should_ be her nest.

The sky is dark when he wakes.

“Shit.” Everything near his waist is wet, flooded from the wet dreams, yet his prick is livid with unslaked need.

Where the fuck _is_ she?

Ben blunders out of bed, his apartment seeming to sway around him as he groggily stalks to the living room. She’s gone — but just as the roar of frustration gathers in his chest, he finds her athletic bag yawning open on the couch.

She’s still here, then. She didn’t run. 

He groans in relief, sucking in a huge breath that tastes like her scent — and it’s cleaner now, free of that acrid afterscent. 

Wherever she is, she’s ready. She _has_ to be by now.

Ben paws himself as he prowls back through the dark apartment, hunting her. “Rey!”

She’s not in the study. Nor the bedroom.

The hiss of the shower finally finds his ears, muted like velvet through the closed bathroom door.

He knocks, not even bothering to be quiet. “Rey.”

Nothing.

Ben raps harder. “ **Omega, get out here**.”

A whimper. So faint that he almost doesn’t hear it.

She can’t resist a Command in this state. It’s impossible. 

Unless—

Panic seizes his gut, and then the door’s splintering open, his shoulder hardly registering the impact as he breaks the thing down. 

Cold air coasts over his skin — not the warm, humid air from a shower, but an icy torrent. The shower curtain howls in protest as he rips it open, and he gasps in commingled relief and horror as he finally finds her.

Rey’s slumped in the basin of the tub, eyes closed, her leather collar, hoodie, and sweatpants utterly drenched. Her hair clings to her flushed face, her neck, embroidering the scarlet rash that races up her throat from her collarbone to the hollow beneath her ear. 

Something moves in her pants; even half-conscious as she is, she’s feebly trying to masturbate.

“Jesus.” Ben’s in the tub beside her in the next instant, heart slamming as he gathers her against his chest. His body seizes at the cascade of freezing water, but Rey’s so far gone that it’s only as he wrenches it off that she rouses, murmuring in protest.

“N-No— please— I’m so hot...”

“Yes,” he insists, trying like hell to stay in control of his fear as he unzips her hoodie, dragging it off her limp form.

Rey musters enough strength to fight him as he yanks her hand out of her pants, trying to pull it out of the hoodie’s waterlogged sleeve, but Ben’s stronger. The sopping slap echoes through the bathroom as he tosses the fabric aside, but she hardly seems to notice. Nor does she flinch when he drags her sweatpants and underwear down over her feet, leaving her in only her soaked tee; she just keeps worrying at her sex, massaging herself with blind need.

_Fuck_ , she’s burning up. Her bare skin scalds his, and the rash traces twin crimson lines down opposite sides of her body from temple to toe, symmetrical and terrifying.

Blood fever.

Ben feels like he’s going to be sick.

“Everything…” Her body heaves in his arms, writhing with the effort of speaking. “...hurts.”

“I know, baby.” Ben strips her out of her t-shirt and bra and then she’s naked, her tiny frame hot as a star. “I know. But just stay with me.”

There isn’t much time.

She groans in protest as he scoops her up and steps out of the tub. “N-No, I’m not r-ready—”

“You’re _beyond_ ready, Omega,” he growls as he carries her to the bedroom, moving as quickly as he dares. “You’re so far past ready that you’ve made yourself sick trying to fight it.”

“I just need to … get myself off…” she pants, hand still clamped between her thighs. “I don’t have … to go into … heat… I can stop it...”

Ben snorts with cold laughter as he settles her on the bed. She’s shivering more violently by the moment, but fights him with that same contrarian strength as he catches her wrist, pulling her hand away from her sex.

“No, stop— I can do it—”

“ **Stop masturbating, Omega.”**

A bloodcurdling cry twists out of the tiny girl — not a shriek but a yell of pure fury. Yet she’s conscious enough to obey his Command; her fingers curl into fists, and she beats the mattress on either side of her body, venting her impotent rage in a tantrum.

Ben’s clothes are soaked, but there’s no time to even pull his shirt off. He throws Rey’s legs over his shoulders, imprisoning her wrists beside her hips as he shoves his face into her pussy. 

Her body roils but he holds her firmly in place as he starts to lick her, sucking her clit and tasting her cunt the way he’s been aching to do for hours. For _days_ . Her nectar has a rawness to it that his Alpha recognizes; the ancient flavor of wanting, of need, of _musth_.

“Get off me!” Rey howls, her body shaking with sobs.

Ben laughs into her soaked folds, savoring the way she squirms.

“You fucking _pussy!_ ” The tiny girl fights him with the strength of a wildcat. “Just Command me — that’s what you do, isn’t it, you great big Alpha _bully!_ ”

He lifts his head to answer, dragging his stubbled jaw against her clit so that she weeps with thwarted rage. “I could. But I like it when you fight me, Rey. So fight harder.”

“ _Why?!_ ”

“Because—” He licks a messy ribbon along her parted slit between each word, dipping into her hollow and grinding the flat of his tongue against the sensitive nub at her apex. “I — want — you — to — let — go.”

“ _Never_ ,” she snarls, but her breaths are already shallowing with pleasure, her movements jerky with need. “Not like this.”

“Mmm.” Ben’s murmur burrs through her tight body, forcing a gasp from his Omega’s lips. She’s still probably too feverish to fuck — but his cock is weeping waterfalls of precum, further drenching his already-soaked pants.

Jesus.

“ _Pro— fess— sor_ —”

The strangled word is the only one Rey can manage before her hips work against him, riding herself to completion on his face.

Her delicious essence floods his mouth as she squirts, and he pulls her down harder, releasing her wrists to claim her hips. He’s drunk on her nectar in an instant, and he sucks harder, flicking his tongue against her clit to urge more gushes of sweetwater from her cunt.

He could drink her like this for hours, if not for the demanding throb of his cock telling that it’s time.

“Rey. Babygirl.” Her eyes drift open, and she watches him dazedly as he tugs off his own clothes. Every pore tingles with relief now that they’re naked together — and he shivers as beads of clear liquid slide down his shaft. “I have to completely break your fever. This might hurt.”

It can’t be helped. If only she’d let down her guard sooner, let him take care of her…

But he’s going to take care of her now. Even if she hates him for it later.

Quickly, before she can summon strength to fight him again, he rolls her onto her stomach. Her arms scrabble against the blankets, but it’s just as well; his huge body is there overshadowing her smaller one, insinuating himself between her thighs and trapping her down against the mattress.

Her body goes rigid as he draws his huge, rigid prick against her, and he snaps his hips, penetrating her in a single violent thrust.

She screams, but it only makes him rock-harder.

One of his hands is enough to manacle both of her wrists down against the pillows, and he sweeps the hair off the nape of her neck as he knots her, cum flooding her sex even before he’s fully aligned inside her channel. 

“Fuck,” Ben groans into Rey’s neck, aching with relief as he pops.

She cries out again as his cockhead meets her cervix, straining into her — but her whole channel clenches about him in rapturous spasms, coming in spite of herself.

“Good girl.” Drool drips from his mouth, slickening her skin as he finds the secondary gland at the nape of her neck that’s been left blessedly bare, the leather collar notwithstanding.

She stiffens even before he clamps down, the minor gland popping under his teeth like a ripe cherry. 

“ _Solo!_ ” Rey’s body surges up against him, set afire with the fresh rush of hormones cascading through her body. “No, no, _no_ —”

He lets her rear up a few inches, but it’s only to let him grind into her harder, pounding his hips against her ass as his knot holds them together.

“Hate me if you want to, but you can’t stop me,” he murmurs into the shell of her ear — and he’s rewarded as her body tightens rhythmically, nearing. “Nothing can stop your heat. Not even you, princess.”

Ben explores the rich swaying of her breasts as he fucks her, teasing her nipples and skating down the plane of her belly to her mound.

“See, if I touch you here…” Rey groans with lust as he finds her clit and begins to work her in counterpoint to his thrusts. “...you’re going to come whether you want to or not, and that’s going to make you feel better.” He slows, taunting her, chuckling with cruel relief as she mewls. “Do you understand?”

“Yes,” Rey huffs.

He bucks into her hard for that, making her squeak with ill-gotten pleasure.

“Say _I understand, Daddy_.”

“I understand, Daddy,” the girl spitted on his cock whimpers, rocking her hips back to meet him as he drives into her — and she cries out as he neglects her clit long enough to spank her.

“Louder.”

“I understand, Daddy!”

Rey’s on the verge of begging, and the aching edge in her voice makes Ben flood her. Each torrent is more satisfying than the last, the spurts of cum like libations to the dark gods within them both.

The darkness that they reflect in each other, deeper than midnight, perfect as a mirror.

“Is this because you wanted me to violate you again?” he whispers into the curve of her neck, watching in awe as goosebumps ripple over her skin. “Is it easier when you’re scared?”

“Yes, Daddy,” Rey mutters softly.

He sits back on heels, pulling her upright with him, crawling forward until Rey’s forced to brace herself up facing the wall. Yet try as she might, she can’t push their interlocked bodies back, and she pants in terror.

Perfect.

“See, you’re still fighting it. But that’s okay.” Ben grins to himself as he lets his hands wander over the front of her body, roughly fondling her breasts and spreading her thighs over his. “Fight me all you want, Omega. Wear yourself out … because you know what?”

Rey’s voice is half-growl, half-whimper: “What?”

“I’ve got a whole rut’s-worth of hard cock ready for you. Just you.” His lips graze the sweep of her shoulder. “And you have no control over this.”

He bounces her in his lap, letting her feel how tightly he’s got her knotted; she yelps, fingers steepling against the wall as he begins to fuck her in earnest again, thumbing her slick-soaked clit.

“That’s right, baby,” Ben grunts at Rey’s guttural moans. She’s coming undone again — and he slams into her hard as the blinding edge finds him, too. “Take my cum, take it all—”

Then he’s falling away in the void, fingers tightening on her body, the Alpha within claiming him as he plunges into the mindless, primal abyss of his rut.


	8. More

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The next time Rey wakes, he’s inside her.
> 
> She’s dreaming of sex, of fire and fucking and ravaging into nothingness — and then he’s _really_ thrusting into her, filling her drenched cunt so completely that all she can do is gasp.
> 
> Ben’s huge body is around her, inside her, trapping her down against the mattress and splitting her to her core. Her soaked pussy clenches around his shaft as he pistons into her, her body traitorous with pleasure — and one of his hands tangles in her hair, yanking her down flat as he dips his head to suck her nipples, tugging the stiff peaks with his teeth.
> 
> It’s quiet. Violent. Raw like her OmegaHub favorites, the ones that made her come hardest.
> 
> _Yes, take me…_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **CW // DUBCON/NONCON AHEAD, reader beware!!**  
>  Caught in the throes of blood fever, Rey struggles to get her bearings — and for a wayward Omega in the middle of her first-ever heat, _no_ may not always mean **no**.
> 
> **Also CW // pregnancy/forced pregnancy/breeding.** This doesn’t actually happen, but Rey gets upset when a certain secret is revealed, and tries to dish it out to the seemingly impervious Alpha!Ben, with surprising results to their mind games.
> 
> Did you read the TWs? **Please read them again!!**
> 
> Extra special thanks to my beta reader, pal, & all-around awesome wench [Ev3rMichelle](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ev3rMichelle), whose mindful suggestions make this story tremendously better 💗
> 
> **✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* Updating daily through December 20 *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧**  
>  \+ [The Fall of Skywalker](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27821176/chapters/68111416) | The ending to the Skywalker Saga that we collectively deserved — a tale of mythic return and the final stand of both Light and Dark.  
> 🖤 **Chapter 8 | The Story of Snoke** is live as of December 8
> 
>   
> 

It’s pearlescent dark when Rey awakens, the sky beyond the curtained window not _dark_ , exactly, but hushed. It’s never proper black this close to the city, even now, in the witching hour’s embrace … but it’s still enough cover to slip about unnoticed as the world slumbers.

The sweet spice of Alpha musk fills her nose; the bed is so sticky with spend and slick that Rey doesn’t even realize _he’s_ there in the bed beside her until his faint snore.

Professor Solo. Ben.

_Daddy._

Rey stills as one of his muscle-banded arms sweeps over her, but then he quiets, tugging her close and tucking her into the crook of his huge Alpha body without rousing.

It takes her what feels like an hour to work herself free of his embrace, wriggling her way out of the chaotic prison of his limbs. Finally she slips away, flitting through the strange-yet-familiar apartment like a ghost as Ben spoons a pillow, mumbling in his sleep.

Once Rey’s bladder is sated she’s free to take stock of things. She’s naked, hot, dizzy, patches of skin along her neck and ribs caught between tenderness and itching — and fractured memories nag at her, puzzle pieces that don’t quite fit.

They’ve had sex again. That’s obvious enough from the ache between her thighs, coiling up inside her to the secret places only _he_ touches.

Twelve hours ago she’d been in his office, just trying to get that damn paperwork sorted. Now she’s naked in his bedroom in the middle of the night, still strangely queasy and hot, like she’s going to be sick again.

Anger glows brighter in her gut the more that she turns the shattered thoughts over in her mind, embers stoked higher by the remembrance of his solemn face. How goddamn _earnest_ he’d seemed when he swore not to touch her.

Everything after that is fuzzy.

At least the leather chastity collar is still locked tight around her neck, with no sign of being disturbed. Rey fists her hands to keep from trying to slip a finger under it to scratch her irritated mating gland.

_Daddy, what did you do to me?_

The simpering impulses are the most wretched thing of all. The way she wants to suck his cock, ride him, feel the fullness of his knot as he claims her. The searing itch rolls through her skin like thunder even thinking of it, making her fingers tremble as though she wants to cling to something. Some _one_.

She doesn’t dare wake him. Not now, in the pit of night when terror makes all things seem so very possible. She can’t ask him to fuck her when surrendering is the very thing she fears.

There’s nowhere else to go, nothing else to do but sneak back into her side of the bed, nestling under the driest part of the tangled sheets until morning. She’s hot, so hot, the sheet clinging to her body like plastic wrap until she throws it off altogether.

She teeters on the edge of the mattress, drifting into darkness as the monster sleeps on beside her, twitching occasionally amid its monstrous dreams.

* * *

The next time she wakes, he’s inside her.

She’s dreaming of sex, of fire and fucking and ravaging into nothingness — and then he’s _really_ thrusting into her, filling her drenched cunt so completely that all she can do is gasp.

_Yes, take me..._

Ben’s huge body is around her, inside her, trapping her down against the mattress and splitting her to her core. Her soaked pussy clenches around his shaft as he pistons into her, her body traitorous with pleasure — and one of his hands tangles in her hair, yanking her down flat as he dips his head to suck her nipples, tugging the stiff peaks with his teeth.

It’s quiet. Violent. Raw like her OmegaHub favorites, the ones that made her come hardest.

He drives into her harder as he quickens, snapping his hips and straining in her quim as his knot swells, the rush of heat from their shared come making her cry out with rapture.

“Shh, babygirl,” he mumbles into her lips — and then he’s claimed those, too, probing her mouth with his tongue as he ruts with her.

_Yes, Daddy, take care of me…_

She rages against it all. The wanton voice in the back of her mind. The way her lips buzz with his ravenous grunts, his hands wandering over her body like he owns her. The seismic tightening low in her belly, her womb shuddering as he nears his next edge.

Her worst nightmare, and it’s finally come true. She’s just some Omega. A hole to be filled by a lust-blinded Alpha.

And it feels so fucking _good_.

She can’t help herself. Worse, she wants it, _craves_ the sensation of him spilling deep in her cunt. Some vicious, vital part of her would do anything to feel it.

Rey’s a prisoner within her own body as he cums, trembling and mewling as his spend fills her and pushes her to yet another brilliant brink. She can feel every spurt — and her hips grind against him in instinctive rhythm, riding the thick intruder in her pussy beyond ecstasy as he floods and floods and floods her.

Each throb of heat brings more bliss, her body responding to his undoing in perfect unison.

“Sweetheart…” he rasps into the hollow of her jaw, his heated breath making her gland twitch. “God, you’re fucking perfect.”

Rey pants silently, wrung out from the awful ecstasy as he gradually softens enough to withdraw from between her thighs.

Instead she simply lies there, perplexed, ashamed, and furious at her own instinctive compliance as the Alpha pulls her close against him once more and his slowing, gentle snores lull her to sleep.

* * *

Rey mutely obeys Ben when he rouses her and guides her to the shower. Harsh daylight stabs around the curtains, and she’s glad enough to retreat to the refuge of the bathroom, her thighs sticky with semen and slick.

Her sodden clothes have been hung up in a corner, and a soft, dry towel waits for her on the edge of the sink, within arm’s reach of the shower. Ben demonstrates how to work the knob, seemingly without expecting any response from her — and his plush lips print a kiss on her forehead before he pads back to the bedroom, leaving the door ajar.

Does he remember her being here before, during the lost hours? He _must_ know, if he hung up her soaked clothes … but instead of shattering her silence and asking what the actual fuck _happened_ , she simply steps into the shower and drags the jangling curtain shut.

It’s too much; she’s being torn apart trying to make sense of it, her body’s urges unreasonably wanton for someone who’s never given a damn about sex before. This insatiable lust is alien, like a whole new Rey is awakening within her.

For a while she simply stands under the torrent, letting the pressure of the cascade work the soreness from her limbs. It’s all so jarringly surreal, like she’s blundered into someone else’s sex dream.

It was supposed to be just one night. No faces. No names. A mere transaction, five grand for an hour’s access to her unguarded body.

Yet no matter how many times she blinks, letting the water pour over her face as though to drown herself awake, she’s still _here_ , her cunt throbbing with the intoxicating mix of overuse and ravenous need as fabric snaps in the other room.

A thrill traces its way up her spine. He’s changing the sheets.

The immediate relief that washes through her at knowing she won’t have to go back to a sticky nest crystallizes into anger. _Going back_. Back to be used, fucked, penetrated and wrung out, pumped full of Alpha cum until his thirst for her Omega pussy is slaked.

The purring pleasure at the back of her mind is impossible to ignore.

_More..._

Cooler air rushes over her body, and then the curtain’s snarling, drawn back by one of those hands that’s too big yet still somehow graceful.

He sighs heavily as he joins her — and Rey’s heart quickens, cunt tightening as he pulls the curtain shut behind him. It’s ridiculous — she knows the rest of the bathroom is out there, as oddly spacious as the one in Kaydel’s sterile flat — but suddenly it feels as though this rectangle of tiled space is all there is to the world. As though there’s only her and him and the falling water.

Rey’s inner thighs are gummy with their mingled efflux, and she scrubs at it with her fingernails, hunching over to hide her body from his dark-eyed stare.

“Here.” One of his huge arms stretches over her head, finding the shower caddy that she hasn’t even seen until he reaches for it. He hands her a bar of vermillion soap that smells like cherries — and though she nods in acknowledgment she sets to work on herself quietly, not even protesting when he tilts the shower head higher, turning the warm spray onto himself.

Rey steals a glance at Ben. For the first time he’s truly _naked_ with her, and somehow his lack of clothes makes him seem only bigger, his broad, muscular body nearly filling one entire half of the shower. He scours himself under the water, and she watches out of the corner of her eye as his hands move lower, to where his soft, thick cock hangs between his legs, pendulous over the dark hair that furs his sac.

It’s unreasonable how sexy he is, the way his very nearness and nakedness soothe her.

He touches himself easily — but it’s only as his fingers slide from the base of his phallus to the dull tip of his cockhead and then back again, repeating the motion over and over as his shaft twitches, that she realizes he’s watching her, too.

A wanton rush pours through her as Ben stiffens in his own hand, and water trickles over her lips in a tepid kiss as he turns the water back down onto her. “ **Keep touching yourself.** ”

It’s pointless, as far as Commands go; she has to wash the soap from her skin anyway, and she moves quickly, rubbing the suds from her arms, her breasts, the soft plane of her stomach. A growl shudders through his barrel chest as her hands find their way lower again — and she lingers, letting her nails scratch circles into the globes of her arse cheeks.

“ **Stop.** ” 

He steps closer, overshadowing her, and then his arm is about her waist. He pulls her close, and his hardening cock presses into her abs as his free hand makes its way to her sex.

His eyes hold her captive as he runs his index finger along her shower-soaked crease, parting her folds — and she shudders with unwelcome pleasure as he twists his digit into her, immediately adding a second.

Rey’s spine arches, and his erection throbs into her belly. “ **Touch me.** ”

She knows what he means — and she doesn’t even waste energy fighting it as her fingers wrap around his stony prick, drawing a groan from his lips. 

Her eyes drift shut, closing out the world; there’s only the water’s soft song, and the occasional shameful squelch as he works her, his thumb settling on her clit and pulsing in time with his invading fingers.

Her mating gland strains at the wet leather of her collar as she caresses his length, letting her thumb swirl over his head and unwittingly urging soft spurts of precum from the slit at his terminus. The liquid is satin-soft compared to the gently flowing water, and his fingers thrust into her with a determined rhythm, as though her own slick is easing his intrusion, too.

It feels … _good_. So much so that the next instinctive surge of resentment against her traitorous body is softer than before, like an echo of someone else’s rage.

Rey isn’t even surprised when he backs her against the shower’s flat wall and nudges her knees apart. His erection is feverish with need, veins standing out on his furious Alpha member as he tremors into her skin, twitching with readiness — and then he hunches, cupping her arse cheeks and spreading her open with a wet pop as he picks her up.

“ **Wrap your arms around my shoulders,** ” he mutters into her damp cheek, his breaths making her skin tingle.

_Yes, Daddy, please please please_ , her Omega impulses beg as he nocks his cockhead into her slick-soaked hollow.

In the next moment even _she’s_ forgotten her resentment, everything but primal awareness driven from her mind as he sheathes himself in her where she’s soft and yielding. Her hips rock in his hands, her body eagerly accommodating him until he’s fully buried in her, huge and hot and inescapable.

_Daddy’s cock, Daddy’s knot, Daddy’s cum..._

He bottoms out harshly, his raw shaft burning in her core with delicious agony. The small of her back snaps with pain as he pins her to the tiled wall, fingers tightening on her flesh as he thrusts.

“Fuck,” he murmurs, the kiss he grazes onto her cheek even more of a transgression for its tenderness.

She loses herself in the thrust and draw as he violates her, surrendering to his advances as he takes her against the wall, holding her still as her clit explodes with physical euphoria.

The blinding edge finds her before she’s ready — and then he’s thudding into her faster, fucking into her with rising desperation, gasping and trembling to his finish before the orgasm has finished shuddering through her own body.

Ben doesn’t knot her this time, he just comes like a Beta, if a huge one. His spend trickles deep inside her, easing her cunt and her tension all at once — but even stranger still is the way he helps wash that same cum from her skin when he finally withdraws and it trickles down the inside of her legs.

He presses his mouth to hers, hungrily dragging his teeth against her bottom lip, nipping before he pulls back and points the shower head down to drench her again. “I’ll go make us some food, sweetheart. Take as long as you want.”

Then he’s gone, and Rey hears him toweling himself off on the far side of the shower curtain as she silently screams at her own stupid goddamn body for loving the Alpha’s touch, her cunt smug and sated like a self-satisfied cat.

* * *

She spends the rest of her time in the shower trying to figure out how to get to her bag in the front room without mincing around in front of Ben wrapped in just a towel. It’s a mercy that she thinks to peek back into his bedroom before pulling on her still-waterlogged hoodie and sweatpants, because her bag has manifested in the middle of his bed since she was there last.

Thank fuck Rose grabbed plenty of comfy clothes for her — though how she found the absorbent panties that’ve been lurking in Rey’s clean clothing pile for god-knows- _how_ -long, Rey doesn’t want to hazard a guess. It isn’t until they’re actually _on_ , the smooth waistband reaching her navel like a pinup model’s knickers, that Rey realizes Rose must’ve bought her new ones.

Her cheeks burn. She owes Rose several bottles of wine — if not a swimsuit model to help drink them — for looking after her so thoughtfully.

The slick constantly leaking from her slit only worsens Rey’s mood as she drags on the loose tank shirt, capri sweatpants, and zip-front hoodie. Furious as she is, there’s no stopping the hunger, the way she wants to feel him defiling her body with his own, even as she seethes at him for doing precisely that.

Somehow, during those fragmented hours of last night Ben went from keeping his distance to casually Commanding her. Casually _fucking_ her, asleep, awake, or otherwise.

Fury crystallizes her resolve, even overwhelming the insipid voice that begs her to submit to him utterly.

She’s not her own anymore. Bitten or not, for this heat— this rut — she belongs to _him_.

_My Alpha. My Ben._

“Just call me _Ofben_ from now on,” she mutters under her breath, hating everything — the clean clothes, the clean sheets, the way the wet leather of the chastity collar is tight about her neck, inescapable. The voice that won’t just _shut up._

He calls something from the front of the apartment, but blood’s rushing through her ears loud enough to deafen her, and she can’t make it out. Or maybe she simply doesn’t _want_ to, because she snaps her hood up over her damp hair, brow knitting in a painful scowl before she stomps out of the bedroom.

He’s in the kitchen — and he blinks at her, startled as she emerges, like he can already sense her seething rage from across the room. 

The sense of instinctive _indecency_ at seeing him standing there shirtless makes Rey’s heart stutter, but she folds her arms over her chest and clenches her jaw, refusing to gape stupidly.

“What is it?” 

His eyes are so kindly behind his glasses that she hates him for it. For daring to look so genuinely oblivious, so _concerned_ after his transgression. “You said you wouldn’t touch me until I was ready.”

He spins a dial on the stove, and it snaps off, the sound sharp in the narrow space. “That wasn’t really an option, given the condition you were in.”

“So you thought you’d, what, help yourself?” 

Rey’s already hooked one finger under the collar, mindlessly trying to reseat the sodden leather about her neck, before she realizes what she’s doing — and he’s watching, of course, Dark gaze fixed lower than her chin, lost in the gesture. Maybe even thinking of biting her, from the way his tongue flicks over his lips.

“Don’t you remember the fever?” The treacherous need stirs in Rey as Ben glowers back at her, unyielding despite her pique. “You were so obsessed with being _independent_ that you literally made yourself sick.”

“I remember being sick, and I remember you fucking me — but I don’t remember ever saying yes in between,” she snaps.

Ben drags his fingers through his stupidly handsome dark-fantasy-prince hair, muttering something Rey doesn’t catch as her skin heats.

“Sorry, what was that?”

“I said _no wonder you gave yourself blood fever,_ ” he grits out, cheeks flaming with a blush.

“Right, sure, blood fever.” She squeezes her arms tighter over her chest, snorting with mirthless laughter as she tries to ignore the way her cunt is slickening as she rages. “Why not go with _blue balls_ and make yourself the victim if you’re going to lie?”

“How can you be this ignorant about being an Omega?”

Ben shakes his head in patronizing disbelief as he moves around the end of the marble counter toward her — and his expression darkens as she flinches backward. But his pants are distended with another huge erection, like he’s ready to take her yet again even as they snarl at each other — and she doesn’t trust herself close to him. 

Not like this. Not when she’s this wet for him, trembling at the thought of him claiming her yet again….

“Fuck, Rey, you’re _lucky_ someone smashed up your boiler, or you would’ve been alone last night when it hit.” He peers down at her, furious and owlish. “What then? Would you have even _known_ to call me?”

“I…” Rey’s hackles prickle with warning. “I didn’t tell you that.”

“Didn’t tell me _what?_ ”

“That the boiler had been smashed up.” She swallows hard. “I-I only told you it was broken. I distinctly remember using that word.”

Uncertainty flickers in Ben’s ink-dark eyes, and he stops. “How else would I have known it?”

Suddenly the spiced musk rolling off him in waves is tinged with something else, an flavor that makes her stomach flip.

Maybe he was telling the truth about her sickness after all — but _this_ …

The hulking Alpha only stares at her, bare chest rising and falling with his silent breaths as she watches him. 

“What did you do, Professor Solo?” Rey asks slowly, already knowing the answer.

His lips hardly move. “Nothing.”

“ _Liar_ ,” she whispers as his scent betrays him again.

It’s horrifying — that he could’ve done such a thing, that he’s been manipulating her, maybe even since that first night. Horrifying that her body is even more drunk with desire as he advances on her again, knowing what he’s done to get her here alone. 

Horrifying that she could love feeling so vulnerable.

“You broke it, didn’t you?”

The Alpha’s voice is an ominous rumble: “You kept running away.”

“So you thought you’d take away my place to run to?” Her heart hammers, and she swallows hard, her mind spinning. “My _safety?”_

He shrugs. Cold. Singular as he stares down at her, dark eyes glittering as he unhooks his glasses from behind his ears and tosses them aside on the TV stand. “Maybe you’re safer here with me.”

From so close she can see the wet patch in the front of his sweatpants where he’s leaking, roused from his musth again — and a plume of cold fury coils through her to know that _this_ is how he wanted her.

Cornered.

“How would you like it if I did the same thing to _you?_ ” Rey snarls, tripping over her own feet as he presses her back toward the bedroom, where the clean sheets are waiting on the bed. “Trapped you like a bloody animal, crossed _every_ acceptable line?”

Ben arches an eyebrow. “Rey, if it was _you_ I wouldn’t care.”

“Well … good.” She finds her footing, standing her ground as she raises her chin. “Because the joke’s on you, _Professor_ . Pretty soon _you’ll_ be the one with nowhere left to run.”

“Meaning?”

“That birth control I was on the night we met…well…” Rey breaks off, snorting with derisive laughter.

It’s not strictly a lie — she’s still on it, of course — but the implication is enough. 

The dark man freezes, and pleasure thrills through Rey as his full lips pop open in shock. “ _Fuck_ , Rey…” 

She glares up at him, triumphant. 

Maybe now, _finally_ , the hulking Alpha will understand a piece of what it means to be hunted. Used for _what_ he is, not _who_.

“That’s right,” she crows, drunk with her sudden advantage. “I just wanted an Alpha to knock me up, and you were too perfect to resist. How does that feel, _Daddy?_ ”

Then Ben leans forward — and before Rey can reel away, he slings her over his shoulder and straightens, striding toward the bedroom.

“What are you _doing?_ ” Rey howls, pounding his back with her fists as blood pulses in her temples.

“Putting a baby in you,” he rumbles, his arms tightening around her thighs as he ducks under the bedroom door jamb. “That’s a pretty fucking picture to get off to.”

“I was lying, alright? You bloody _maniac_ — _!!_ ”

The air gushes out of her lungs as Ben tosses her down on the bed, shoving her athletic bag to the floor. Her hoodie zipper parts with a dull growl, and then he’s shoving her tank shirt up to bare her breasts, yanking her sweats and panties down to her knees in the next movement.

“Nope. No more running away, princess. If this is what you ask for, this is what you get.”

Rey buries her hands in his hair, trying to drag him away from her body — but he only wraps both arms around her, pulling her close as he lays a trail of soft kisses down her belly.

“You can’t— _do_ this—” she pants as he reaches her mound, threatening to go lower still.

“Eat you out and then fill you with my cum?” He laughs, a lazy sound that says he knows he has all the power here. “Try and stop me.”

She slithers through his arms and scrambles away across the bed. It doesn’t even strike her that Ben’s dragged the sweatpants and panties off her legs until she’s scrambling toward the pillows and he’s vaulting up onto the bed after her, dragging her nearly-naked body beneath him.

“Maybe you were lying then, maybe you’re lying now,” the Alpha croons, his lips brushing hers as he captures her about the sway of her waist. His other arm fumbles between them, and then his hard cock thuds against her slit as he frees himself, drawing a moan from her lips at the pop of pressure. “Either way, I don’t mind practicing.”

She whines as he notches himself into her crease, already messy with need for him. “How could you _possibly_ be willing to risk that?”

“Because I care about you, Rey.” His voice is thick with emotion. “Believe me, you needed a good couple of fucks to break your fever, and I’m still not convinced I took care of you right.” Precum is leaking from his slit; she can feel it filling her folds as he waits, his heat pushing into her, stretching her at the verge of herself. “But I’ll do it this time. Break you. Make you see the truth.”

“No,” she groans as he surges shallowly, threatening to push deeper.

“Do you want me to give you a baby, Rey?” Ben rasps. “Cum inside you — really, _truly_ unprotected?” He nuzzles into her neck, his kisses wet and hungry as he traces a line along the sodden leather collar. “Fill you up with life?”

“No…” Rey moans.

He only laughs. “I think you like saying _no_ to me.”

She shoves at him, seething, but he’s ready for her vain assault. Moments later one of his hands has both of her wrists manacled over her head, and she huffs in his face, furious and helpless as he fondles her breasts.

“Say _yes, Daddy_ if you want me to stop this,” he murmurs, rolling his hips to drag his cockhead along her slick-greased folds. “That’s all you have to tell me. Two little words.”

Rey glares up at him, rendered mute from the tempest of conflicting emotions raging through her — but Ben returns her gaze with equal force, tendons in the hollow of his jaw popping as he stares deep into her.

He was just some faceless body, and then — worse — her professor.

How can he know her like _this?_

“Say _no_ if you want me to hold you down and pump you full of my cum, kitten,” Ben rasps, thumbing one of her nipples. “Otherwise—”

“No,” Rey whispers, hating herself even as she burns for him.

His fingers tighten around her wrists, and he smiles grimly. “Fight me.”

She strains against him — weakly at first, then harder as his cocky grin grows, his precum trickling down to tease the bud of her arse.

“Come on. I said _fight_ me, you pathetic little Omega. Work for it.”

_That_ makes her surge against him, planting her palms against his chest and shoving, but it does nothing other than make him chuckle.

“You call that fighting?” Ben’s arm snakes about her bare waist again, holding her to him as he taunts her with his cockhead, dipping into her only to relent. “You’re _begging_ for a rough fuck and a tight knot.”

He rolls her body on top of his, but she still can’t escape him — and she grunts with effort, arching her spine to keep her pussy away from his cock. 

“Maybe I’ll breed you just to break that fiery spirit. Teach you how to be a good little girl instead of a rebellious brat.”

Tears streak from her eyes, burning with the beauty of meteorites, of _release_ . “You _can’t_ —”

“I can. I will,” he breathes, irises wide as midnight as he forces her hips down, starting to transfix her on him. His other hand pins her wrists to his chest as he flexes his hips, fucking up into her with a slow deliberation that makes her whimper. “If you like saying no, then one _yes_ and this stops. Otherwise I’m going to do my best to knock you up, birth control or no.”

He’s stronger. Ever. Always.

“N-No, please—”

“ _No, Daddy, don’t breed me_?” he asks, mocking as he breaks her open, torturously slow. “I might try for hours.”

“No, Daddy … please, Daddy, no,” Rey begs, already losing herself in the perfect tingling ache as he drives deeper. “Please no, no _no_ —”

Something slithers about her neck, falling onto Ben’s bare chest with a slap.

Rey stares down at it, aghast as she recognizes the wide, wet form of the chastity collar.

_Fuck…_

“ _Well_ then.” Ben hitches her body against him as he sits up, releasing her wrists to grab it. He almost doesn’t seem to notice as Rey sinks onto his stiffened length, and her pussy clenches about his cock as his breath warms her bare neck. “Guess we’re not playing _Daddy, don’t_ anymore.”

She can feel her mating gland straining through her skin, pulsing as the Alpha tosses the thing aside on his night table and turns his attention back to her. “Please, Professor … Ben—”

“I know, kitten. I won’t,” he murmurs. “But don’t run, you’ll only trip my prey drive.”

The huge man pulls her close — and even though he only drags the flat of his tongue over her naked mating gland, it’s overwhelming, exquisite enough to rip a guttural moan from Rey’s throat.

“Mmm…” He laps at her just _there_ , softly but insistently, nudging a rhythm into the hollow of her neck as he cradles her jaw. “You taste like raspberries and sex, babygirl.”

The beautiful ache deep in her belly matches his tempo, but it isn’t until Rey feels her nipples skimming against his chest in tight circles that she realizes _she’s_ the one who’s fucking _him_.

“I told you, sweetheart.” His lips caress her swollen gland as he murmurs the words into her, punctuating the words with wet kisses. “Whatever I may or may not have done to get you here, you needed it last night. I wouldn’t have fucked you otherwise.”

“Blood fever…” Rey mutters under her breath.

“Yes, _blood fever_. I didn’t lose myself last night, I promise.” He kisses her mating gland again, holding her tight as she shivers. “Just like how I’m not losing myself now.”

_Yes, Daddy, thank you thank you, give me what I need..._

Fear lances through her, but she’s already tightening around the thick spire of his cock. “You destroyed my boiler.”

“Yeah,” he breathes, and the word makes her quake. “Not my most shining moment. But I’d never hurt you — you _have_ to believe that.”

She’s melting into him, his steely grip transmuting her fury. He’s not lying; she’d smell it if he was, but it’s only his clean, pure musk enfolding her, intoxicating as mead. “H-How do I know you won’t mate me?”

“You don’t, babygirl. Just like I don’t know whether or not you’re on the pill. We’re gonna have to learn to trust each other.” His hips roll beneath her, urging her into a hungrier rhythm around his throbbing shaft. “But when the time comes, you’ll be the one to bite _me_.”

“ _Never_ ,” Rey seethes, forcing the word forced through her clenched teeth as her rage fades.

Ben’s patronizing chuckle makes his lips buzz against the column of her neck, and her body quakes. “You will. And until then, I’m going to get myself off inside you as many times as I can … and since you put the image in my head, right now I’m going to be thinking about filling you up with our child.”

A cataract of pleasure runs through her nerves.

Not _my child_ , or even _a child_.

_Our child._

Maybe she _isn’t_ just some Omega to him.

Maybe Ben Solo is a real Alpha … the one she’s never let herself dream of.

He knots his hands into her hair as Rey starts coming apart around him, as though knowing his words are sending her sliding into rapture.

“More,” he mutters, heat pouring into Rey as her body draws the corresponding orgasm from him. 

His knot swells inside her like living fire, locking them together as she cries out, immobilized in his arms and coming harder with each muted thrust. Her clit is beating like a heart, slamming in the crux of her legs as she grinds on him, lost.

“Give me more of yourself, Rey,” Ben rasps, the words tight with need.

Then he’s back to alternately pressing the flat of his tongue against her mating gland and kissing her, urging her hips into a twitching tattoo that wrings more cum from his raw cock with each rapturous shudder of her pussy.

“ _More_ …”


	9. My Omega

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He lets his palm stray to the curve of Rey’s hip, but she only murmurs, instinctively nudging into his touch.  
> She’s so small in his arms, dripping with slick even now — and before he can stop himself he’s flexing his hips, nestling his erection up against her soaked crease.
> 
> _Fuck,_ it’s like the first night Ben claimed her, rawing her motionless form as she only murmured under him. The memory makes him stiffen more, and he nuzzles into her hair, inhaling the fragrance of her body and letting his hand stray up to fondle her breasts.
> 
> Rey hums — and he suspects she’s not asleep this time, either.
> 
> That’s fine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **CW // Dubcon ahead as per usual, mind the tags!!**
> 
> Thanks to the eternally lovely [Ev3rMichelle](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ev3rMichelle) for beta reading this pervitude!
> 
> If your heart is aching and you’re still looking for an alternate canon, ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*[The Fall of Skywalker](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27821176/chapters/68111416)*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧ is complete! You can read it here on AO3 or download a copy of the PDF from where it’s pinned on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/ElegyGoldsmith)
> 
>   
> 

Ben grits his jaw, fighting his edge as Rey’s pussy clenches around his cock in a feverish embrace. She’s soft, yielding, and so fucking  _ soaked  _ as he strains into her, his glans nestled tight against her cervix, swollen knot stoppering her full of his last blissful load.

He could be close to the brink again in minutes — faster if she keeps writhing in his lap like this — and a tiny  _ aah _ escapes her lips as he tightens his arm about her waist, holding her still.

“Mm-mm,” he hums as she tries to wriggle. She’d started shifting from foot to foot before the steak was even half ready, the mouthwatering scents of garlic butter and searing meat no match for her overwrought Omega urges. Now it’s all he can do to keep her still on his cock as he presses another ragged cube past her lips. “Eat, princess.”

Ben bites back a groan as she sucks the grease from his fingers, swirling her tongue over the sensitive pads before releasing him. Her body needs the proteins, the salt and fats — but the urge to fuck his cum deeper into her womb makes his hips jerk as she sucks him clean.

“Good?”

She nods, chewing slowly as her dark honey gaze holds him prisoner. Her tongue flicks over her lips, and he wishes that  _ he _ was the one licking her, the urge so powerful that for a heartbeat he actually tastes her berry sweetness. “Where’d you learn how to cook like this?”

Something melts in his chest, warm as the butter. “You like it?”

She nods — and he readies another bite, tracing it along her lower lip as she swallows.

“YouTube.”

Rey snorts, and Ben takes the opportunity to nudge the next piece past her parted lips as she tightens around his erection. Even draped in one of his old t-shirts she's a knockout, her hair gathered in a messy knot at the nape of her neck.

Fuck, her  _ neck _ … that slender column of flesh and the mating gland blooming under her skin, flushed and full. Ready to be bitten.

To be claimed.

But he  _ can’t  _ — and his own gland throbs in protest, taunting him. His skin itches faintly, nerves stirring with disquiet.

Rey would hate him for that.  _ Truly _ hate him. 

Maybe it’s just the rush of heat hormones, but she’s even forgiven him for venting his frustration on her boiler. He can’t risk alienating her. Not after she’s already absolved him of  _ that  _ transgression — the kind of Alpha shit Ben promised he’d never pull outside his darkest fantasies. He’s not a goddamn animal.

But Rey, more than anyone, tests the fuck out of that assertion.

_ That’s _ what keeps him from yielding to the urges that are screaming for him to take her,  _ mate her now right fucking NOW _ —

She needs him to be more.  _ Better _ . The Alpha she truly deserves.

The ache in his swollen cock only worsens as she laughs again, her pussy tightening in time to the low, melodic sound. “YouTube…”

He takes the opportunity to slide another bite of food into her mouth. She needs to keep her strength up, especially after the fever — but it’s taking every ounce of his self-control not to start pressing deeper, urging himself further into her again. Thank hell she’s too sunk in Omega bliss to notice him swallowing every few seconds, hiding how hard his mouth is watering for the taste of her skin.

Maybe if he keeps talking it’ll keep the need at bay. “When I dropped out of college I got tired of turning everything to shoe leather, so … yeah. Thanks,  _ Cooking with the Kock _ .”

Rey giggles again — and the worry that she might choke hits him like a lightning-strike, but she swallows, perfectly okay. Of course she is. He’s worse than an overprotective guard dog. “What’s so funny?”

“Cooking with the _ cock? _ Come on.”

“ _ Kock _ means something completely different in Swedish,” he says, echoing the host’s iconic lilt.

“I always assumed you were the kind of guy who, y’know ... grew up with a private chef or something,” she mumbles as he readies the next morsel.

Now it’s his turn to laugh. “ _ Chef? _ No way. My mom’s in city government, Dad’s a carpenter. I bought  _ them _ their first house.”

“That’s really sweet.”

Rey’s voice is dreamy as her gaze — and heat blooms at the tip of his cock, his balls tightening as she charms another spurt of cum from him.

For all he did to get her here, she somehow thinks he’s  _ sweet _ .

His molars creak as he twitches deep in her belly, throbbing as Alpha musth blurs his thoughts.

He’ll finish feeding her later. After.

Ben drags the t-shirt up over her head, nuzzling into her bare, perfect tits as he starts to move inside her again, his body relenting to her siren call.

“Thank you, Daddy,” she sighs as the fabric drips to the floor and her arms lock over his shoulders, chaining her body to his.

“You need relief, babygirl?”

She nods, thighs tightening rhythmically as she rises and falls, her pussy tugging at him  _ there _ .

His lap is already wrecked where she’s splayed over him, his last load leaking around his knot — but he slides one hand between their bodies, thumbing Rey’s clit in ragged circles as she rocks on his rut-swollen cock.

“Good girl,” he croons, and her answering sigh makes him shudder with delight.

Her cunt squelches softly as he quickens, the sounds wet and glorious as rapture finds them again and their intermingled sighs give way to oblivion.

* * *

Ben carries her to the bathroom before he starts to soften, popping out of her on the bathmat and setting her on her feet as a torrent of iridescent seed floods her thighs. He leads her into the shower, and she seems only too willing to lean back against his chest as he reaches around her, working her slit open to the flowing water.

Anything he might’ve mistaken for rut in the past pales in comparison to this. Every moment he’s not around her, inside her, his whole body is wretched with need.

“Are you cleaning me or teasing me, Professor?” she asks softly, her breath buzzing in his ear as he runs his fingers over her sensitive skin.

He nuzzles into her, savoring the way the tiny movement makes her whole body tremble with need. “I’m amusing myself.”

Yet once Ben’s sure she’s clean he withdraws from her sex, even though it makes her groan in disappointment. Her legs are shaking; even as she turns back to him, catching his half-hard phallus in her fingers, her eyelids droop with exhaustion.

He guides her hands away from his cock. “Let’s go back to bed and see what happens.”

She’s starting to drift as he dries her off and guides her back through to the bedroom — but she summons her wits long enough to glare at him, suddenly wary. “You won’t bite me while I’m asleep, will you?”

“No, kitten.” Ben’s rebellious lips curve in a smirk. “Not unless you bite me first.”

“Uh-huh.” Rey rolls her eyes as she rolls onto her side, scooting her ass into his lap and giggling as the sudden flush of heat makes his cock twitch against her. “’f course, if you want to  _ fuck _ me in my sleep…”

She breaks off with a dozy titter.

Ben hadn’t realized he was falling asleep too, until her words make him snap back to full wakefulness. His growing erection molds to the curve of her ass, and she giggles drowsily again, parting her thighs around him.

“G’night, Professor,” Rey murmurs — but there’s an exaggerated softness to the syllables, like she’s pretending to be sleepier than she is as she mounts him.

“Lights off,” he growls, and darkness falls in the apartment.

The naked Omega nestled in Ben’s bed wriggles her hips again, stroking his hardening shaft with her inner thighs, gently riding him. She’s still warm from the shower, and his heart hammers as her movements and breaths slow with sleep.

He lets his palm stray to the curve of Rey’s hip, but she only murmurs, instinctively nudging into his touch.

She’s so small in his arms, dripping with slick even now — and before he can stop himself he’s flexing his hips, nestling his erection up against her soaked crease.

_ Fuck _ , it’s like the first night Ben claimed her, rawing her motionless form as she only murmured under him. The memory makes him stiffen more, and he nuzzles into her hair, inhaling the fragrance of her body and letting his hand stray up to fondle her breasts.

Rey hums — and he suspects she’s not asleep this time, either.

That’s fine.

“Do you know how many times I’ve jerked off to the thought of this?” Ben whispers into her hair as he tugs at her nipples, idly playing with the perfect points. He draws his stiff cock along the outside of her pussy, her nectar smoothing his shaft. “A naked, sleeping, unguarded Omega. Utterly helpless. Mine for the taking.”

Rey whiffs softly as he palms one of her tits, letting his fingernails bite into her yielding flesh.

“You were such a good little whore for me the night we met. So  _ still _ .”

Another gentle moan — and she’s slicker than before as he tilts his hips, urging himself along the line of her slit, pressing against her harder.

“Imagine what I could do to you like this.” Ben pulls his hips back far enough to grab the base of his shaft, and he dips into her shallowly, his cockhead parting her folds. He strokes himself, taunting her. “I could fill you with my cum without even giving you the satisfaction of taking my cock.”

A whine twists out of her, so quiet that he nearly misses it.

How can she  _ like _ this? It’s so fucking twisted that he’s never confided these instincts to another living soul, but he can’t get off without imagining it. The idea of sobs filling his ears as a warm, soft Omega yields to him, inch by agonizing inch.

But that girl never had a face. Not until he met Rey.

He nudges her knees further apart as he rolls her onto her stomach, covering her tiny body with his own and pushing into her cunt with a low growl of pleasure. He takes his time sinking into her, fisting the sheets as he thrusts deep and slow, savoring the way her soft walls cradle him.

“You’re so tight,” he rumbles, printing a kiss on her peach-soft cheek as her hair tickles his nose. “Babygirl,  _ fuck _ …”

Rey cries out softly as he bottoms out in her — but still she doesn’t wake. Or doesn’t admit to being awake this whole time, which is hotter, if anything. That she’d play pretend for him, knowing how hard he’d get off on this.

Ben sweeps Rey’s hair aside as he grinds into her. The secondary gland in the nape of her neck still feels swollen from his bite, and a shiver runs through her body like an electric shock as he slides his tongue over the bruise.

He pistons into her with growing urgency, edging her with a deliberation he didn’t know he possessed. Each time her body tries to beguile him into coming he traps her hips down against the mattress, transfixing her so perfectly that she can’t move, filling her utterly.

“You’re mine,” he murmurs into her perspiration-beaded skin, starting to shiver apart with bliss as he laps at the curve of her neck. She’s raspberries, she’s honey, she’s wine rolling over his tongue — and he sighs, digging his hips into the fullness of her ass, erect cock claiming her pussy as he takes her from behind.

He slams into her faster. Harder. She doesn’t move, but he catches her wrists, holding her down against the pillows. Her face is tilted to the side, lips parted, eyes still closed — but the crease between her neat brows betrays how close she is to coming.

“Don’t come, baby.” He slows his strokes, savoring the full strain and draw of fucking her unknotted. “Not like this.”

Tendons stand out in her wrists, and it doesn’t matter if she’s awake, asleep, or trying to stop herself — she’s falling apart, her pussy shuddering violently around Ben’s shaft, urging him to the brink. His seed pours into her as his knot swells, her tight body milking spurts of cum from him in a rapturous tattoo.

_ Could _ he knock her up like this? Presumably. He can imagine her breasts and the flat plane of her belly swelling with life, and he bucks into her harder at the thought of it, of what rutting with her could mean.

A baby with eyes and a clever mind like their mother’s. 

Ben’s never thought of sex like  _ this _ before — but somehow, now, with Rey, he can see it, the future suddenly clear, as solid as her body against his. What they could be.

He comes until he’s purged and gasping, clinging to her like he’s been shipwrecked.

He needs her.

Rey.  _ His _ Rey.

Forever.

* * *

Ben wakes from chaotic dreams to find Rey’s body tangled around his own, her soft breaths gusting over his face — but as though roused by his movements she twitches awake, too, and tries to pull herself free of his embrace.

“I’m just going to the bathroom,” she murmurs, printing a kiss on the tip of his nose as she slips through his arms.

It feels like an eternity before she creeps back into the empty half of the bed. Ben pulls her close — and he’s expecting her to fight him, but she snuggles into his arms willingly enough. Her head fits perfectly beneath his chin, and her breath warms his chest as he gathers her naked body against his.

She murmurs something, the syllables tickling his skin as she throws her thigh over his.

“Hmm?”

“I said, I’m horny again.”

Rey’s voice is flat, grudging, and Ben swallows back a laugh. “Are you upset about that, sweetheart? You know I’ll take care of you.”

“It’s just … I didn’t realize it’d be this  _ constant _ .” Ben’s mating gland prickles with rapture as she cards her fingers through his hair. “I keep coming, but it’s never enough.”

“Your body wants to be full of cum right now. It’s biological. Good for breeding.” He explores the tangents of her body with his hands as his cock rouses. “Baby, why don’t you know this kind of stuff?”

The kiss she presses into the hollow of his neck is soft, slow. “What kind of stuff?”

“Like blood fever. Taking care of yourself when you’re going into heat. Things you should know about being an Omega.” 

Ben draws his head back far enough to regard her properly — and the way she gazes back at him, so open and unguarded, makes him feel like his heart’s going to shatter.

“I, uh…” Her voice is hoarse with emotion. “My folks died when I was eleven, then I was in foster, then…” She blinks, her eyes twin pools of shadow in the gloomy bedroom. “I thought if I just kept taking my blockers I’d never have to worry about it.”

“Oh, kitten….” Ben gathers her close, his heart aching with the innocence of the thought — and for what she’s lost.

No wonder she acts like she didn’t know any better. She  _ didn’t _ .

No one was there to teach her.

Even the previous boyfriend, whoever he was, hadn’t helped her. It probably wouldn’t have come up between them; a Beta wouldn’t have had this kind of effect on her, biochemically, at least.

And he’d been bragging about buying his own parents a house, like a goddamn asshole.

Ben kisses the top of Rey’s head, savoring the feeling of her cornsilk-soft hair against his lips. “I’m so sorry, sweetheart.”

“Don’t be,” she says gruffly — but she nuzzles closer. “Anyway, I guess I know better now.”

“Yeah,” Ben responds automatically, but he’s distracted, heart thudding faster as rage stirs his thoughts.

Where would Rey be if not for him? The world is full of preening would-be Alphas, masters in name only, their designation a genetic quirk that in no way assures decent behavior.

And she’d been selling her body, innocent to what could happen if she was in the wrong hands. 

Jesus  _ fuck _ .

“Hey.” Rey gently headbutts his chin, reclaiming his attention. “You alright?”

To Ben’s abject humiliation he’s rock-hard, his cock livid from the rage flowing through his veins. He keeps her close, trapping her comfortably against his chest so she won’t see his flushed cheeks. “It’s just … the way you could slip through the cracks like that. No one seeing you.”

“ _ You _ saw me,” she murmurs, the words muffled against his collarbone.

He wants to cry from the weight of the darkness inside him. What he’s done to her. What he  _ wants _ to do. “You deserve someone who’ll be kind to you, Rey.”

For a long time there’s only silence, and the warmth of her breath against his chest.

When she finally speaks, her low alto is steady: “What if I don’t trust kindness?”

“That’s bleak,” he mutters. His cock is still stubbornly hard against the valley of her belly, oozing precum onto her bare skin — but she doesn’t pull away. If anything, she seems to snuggle closer, the tip of her nose tickling his neck as she traces circles into him.

“Like you’re the sort of man who ever  _ makes love _ ,” she snorts quietly — and Ben gasps as her fingertips find his shaft, his cockhead. She smears his precum along the entirety of his length, coating him in the sticky fluid. “You  _ fuck _ . That’s not bleak, that’s honest.”

“Kitten…” he rumbles, warning her, but she doesn’t stop.

“I already know the things you like, Professor Solo,” she murmurs throatily. His balls ache with need as she strokes him harder, as though daring him to stop her. “And you like to fuck me rough.”

Ben rolls Rey on top of him so suddenly that she gasps, his hand engulfing her neck, forefinger and thumb finding her pulse points as his other fingers drape over her mating gland. It’s safer this way; he’s so tempted to bite her that his mouth is watering again, the craving becoming increasingly hard to deny.

She’s straddling his lower belly — and he cradles her jaw, studying how her features contort with an intoxicating mix of desire and dread as his hand tightens around her throat.

“I’m going to pump you full of my cum, precious girl,” Ben grits out as his erection thuds against the hemispheres of her ass, eager to bury itself in her pussy. “There’s nothing you can do to stop it.”

“Please, no,” Rey whimpers. Her fingers warm his hand, but she’s urging him tighter, not tearing at him. “Please, Professor, not like this…”

“ _ Yes _ , like this,” he snarls breathlessly, planting his feet against the mattress and bending his knees to keep her from squirming away. His free hand lazily claims her thigh, and he manipulates her body against him, urging her into a shallow, chaste rocking that smears a ribbon of her Omega slick into his happy trail. “ _ Exactly _ like this, sweetheart. I want to feel how much you want it.”

She thrashes on him, starting to rebel against his touch. “I  _ don’t _ want this, you monster!”

She’s good at playacting the victim — so good that it takes another squeeze of her hand over his, reassuring his fingers about her throat, for him to fully tighten his grip.

“Yes you do. Look at you.” He pulls her closer, forcing her to look at him, and he pitches his voice to sound cold. Imperious. “Begging for it with your eyes while your lips try to lie to me.”

He slips his free hand under the crux of her thighs, drenching his fingers in her slick as she shudders. His cock settles against her ass crack, and he pushes under her to daub her essence along his length, greasing himself with her until his erection tingles.

“Choke me harder, Daddy,” she whimpers, her voice reverberating through Ben’s palm as she grinds her pussy against his wrist.

_ Fuck… _

He drags her closer until her nose nearly brushes his, glaring sternly. Her pupils are so blown out with hunger that her eyes look black. “Are you telling me what to do, Omega?”

“N-No,” Rey gasps.

“You’re not in charge here. That’s  _ my _ job.” Ben rubs the prominence of his thumb against Rey’s clit, and her lower lip trembles as she sucks in a breath. “And I’m going to train you like the feral slut you are.”

Her guttural cry as he dips his thumb into her is so sexy that his erect cock throbs with need, bringing another fat bead of precum to his tip.

“Like the sound of that, don’t you? The idea of being broken in. Owned.” He presses deeper, savoring the way her velvet-soft walls yield to his probing touch. “Knotted every night like a good girl, right  _ here _ .”

“No,” Rey moans feebly, trying to look away as he swirls the pad of his thumb in languid circles, exploring her — but he holds her by her jaw, keeping her still as her hips quake.

“Your body belongs to me,” he croons, tracing a path through her silken folds. “Your  _ orgasms _ belong to me.”

Ben pulls his thumb out of her with a wet pop, finding the sensitive nub of nerves at the apex of her thighs and lingering long enough to draw another aching cry from her lips.

“You’re my Omega,” he growls as he urges her body up higher, until his hard, heated length can fit beneath her. “ _ Mine _ .”

Ben notches his cockhead into her slit — but then he stops her, tightening his grip on her throat as she tries to sink onto him.

“No. Not until you say it.”

“Say what?” Rey rasps quietly, lashes lowered as she avoids his gaze.

His prick twitches at the very edge of her, her pulse beating against his fingertips as he cages her neck in his unyielding grip. “Say you’re mine.”

Muscles dance beneath his hand as she clenches her jaw, glaring. “Never.”

Droplets of her slick trace paths along his swollen phallus — but still he doesn’t let her relax down onto him, instead pinning her between his free hand and his bent knees. “I swear to god, Rey, I will keep you like this for the rest of the night.”

“No, Daddy,” she begs, but his thumb is already grinding against her clit in firm circles. “Please, no, no, no…”

“Then  **stop moving** ,” Ben growls, and Rey yelps brokenly as her body freezes.

If she wants it rougher, he certainly doesn’t mind obliging.

Now that she’s imprisoned within her own body, it only takes a moment to pick her up and twist her around, resettling her over his belly facing away from him.

Ben’s cock shivers with excitement as he scoots lower underneath Rey, until her perfect, pink pussy is just  _ there _ before his face, her bouquet making his head swim with thirst.

He reaches up and forces her to bend double, laying down along the front of his body. “ **Suck me** .”

Her lips close around his cockhead in a warm, wet embrace, and he nuzzles into her slit, his inner Alpha purring with pleasure as he simultaneously fucks her mouth and presses his tongue deep into her hollow.

She squirms on his face, but he catches her hips, gripping tight and forcing her down against him in short strokes as the warm rhythm of her mouth claims his cock. Her cunt yields easily to his intrusive tongue, and he alternates between violating her channel and her clit as she moves faster over him, quickening.

Before the blinding brink starts to rise in him he lifts Rey’s hips again, urging her down the length of his body until her drenched crux is flush with the base of his shaft. He reaches forward as he sits upright, reclaiming her throat and yanking her back to meet him.

Her bare back warms his chest as she sits back against him, giving him her weight, and he nuzzles into the shell of her ear. She’s almost riding him again, the junction of her thighs fitted perfectly against his roused cock. “I can torture you like this forever, babygirl. Surrender to me.”

“Why?” Rey whispers, her wild heartbeat slamming through Ben’s body, too.

_ Because I want you I need you I love you, I have to fuck you every goddamn day or I’ll fucking die, baby _ —

“Because I said so,” he manages to growl through the avalanche of hormones pouring through his bloodstream. “And I’m your Alpha.  **Obey me** .”

She moves gently on his lap, grinding along his rock-hard dick. He’s already aching to knot and fill her, but he waits — if impatiently — until he hears the soft words: “I’m your Omega.”

“ **Louder** ,” Ben rumbles, reaching around her to jerk himself. Rey’s hips twitch to meet his hand, and he lets his fingertips graze against her sex, seducing her. “ **Tell me** .”

“ _ I’m your Omega _ .”

He releases Rey’s neck long enough to lick a wide stripe along his hand — and when he reclaims her, she shrieks as the wet ribbon of skin settles against her mating gland.

“ _ My _ Omega,” he murmurs, his hackles rippling with primal desire as he guides his dripping cockhead to her pussy.

Finally she’s ready for him.  _ Really _ ready.

Rey shivers in Ben’s arms as he fucks up into her, his shaft straining into her raw, wet cunt so brutally that she whimpers.

“Oh  _ fuck _ , princess,” he groans as he settles into her, fingertips still pulsing at her throat. “You finally giving in to me?”

“Yes, Daddy,” she sighs, sinking back into his arms as he sets a punishing tempo, rubbing her clit as he takes her — and her pussy clenches around him, meeting his harsh rhythm as his spit-sticky hand massages her mating gland.

The fiery patch of skin beats beneath Ben’s fingers like a second heart, and Rey arches her back, nudging into him as he grazes her earlobe with his teeth. He tugs gently, owning her. “Whose Omega are you?”

“Yours, Daddy,” the half-swooning Omega mutters, her tits bouncing against his arms as he fucks her. “Take me, ravage me harder, I love it…”

It’s wretched. Taboo. But Rey’s soft words make him twitch deep in her belly, swelling until her pretty Omega pussy is shivering and full of his cock.

His fingers clench bruise-tight on her supple flesh, imprisoning her body against his larger one as he ruts with her. Rey clutches at his wrists, but she moves with him, meeting his rough advances with equal fervor.

“Alpha…” she whimpers as her cunt urges Ben closer to his undoing, his precum already beginning to flood the tight gate of her cervix. “Alpha… Ben…”

“I want to bite you,” Ben mutters as he pounds into her harder, making her shudder in his lap with the force of it. “Omega … Rey, sweetheart, I want to mate with you…”

“No.”

The word is soft. Agonizing.

“Goddamnit, Rey,” Ben seethes in frustration, the base of his cock tingling, ready to knot her even as his heart aches — and the way her body suddenly tenses around his makes the orgasm coalesce. He’s being torn apart by lust, need, thwarted fury. “Please … babygirl—”

“Professor Solo, I can’t,” she begs. “Don’t make me…”

Heat bursts through his sex, wrung out of his body as Rey finds her edge, too.

His fingers flutter at her throat as he pumps deep inside her, wave after wave of his seed spilling into her womb as his knot swells to claim her.

“Rey,” Ben groans, dragging her back and nuzzling into her hair, marking her with his scent as he snaps his hips in mindless, muted thrusts.

Her voice is as strained as her body, and her hands play over his in mindless bliss. “Oh  _ fuck _ Alpha, don’t stop … please don’t stop…”

* * *

He comes floods. Oceans. Filling her with iridescent rut-seed again and again, until dawn greys the horizon and his inner Alpha is exhausted, if not sated.

But through it all, he knows she doesn’t want him. Not like  _ that _ .

Just before dawn he finally begins to nod off again, but he can’t stop turning the thought over and over in his mind, even as the wrecked Omega falls asleep in his arms, snoring cutely.

He’s good enough for her to fuck, but not to mate.

_ Why? _

Fuck, it hurts — worse than anything he’s ever felt before.

“You’re mine,” Ben murmurs to the sleeping girl, stroking her hair and the soft curves of her body, pretending to ignore the singularity of agony that’s making his chest collapse as he gazes down at her. “My Omega.”

And for a few moments, just before he drifts off himself, Ben can almost believe it’s true.


	10. Trust Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Tell me you want me like this, at least,” Ben mutters between kisses, tugging at Rey’s lower lip with his teeth until she gasps with longing. “That you haven’t hated being here with me.”
> 
> How that pretty pain can make her sex burn for him is a mystery — one she’ll never have the opportunity to explore, let alone solve, after tonight.
> 
> Rey’s heart cracks.
> 
> She traces her thumbs along the line of his stubbled jaw, trying to memorize how this feels as his arm snakes tighter about her waist and his cock twitches eagerly through the soft cotton of his pants. “I want you, Ben.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **CW // DUBCON/NONCON AHEAD, reader beware!!**
> 
> With a few chapters left, there are a few more twists ahead for this thirsty duo — and I promise there _will_ be happiness, there’s just a wee bit of angst to weather first!
> 
> **TW FOR THIS CHAPTER // loss of parents/past trauma**  
>  Our beloved Rey Nobody/Niima is an orphan, and in this story (while not graphic or anything), this will tie into her aversion to mating. It’s something I’ve thought about a _lot_ in the A/B/O context, so I’m curious to hear your thoughts...
> 
> Huge thanks to [Ev3rMichelle](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ev3rMichelle) for being a magical smut wizard and beta reading this (and every!) chapter!
> 
> Did you read the TWs? **Please read them again!!**
> 
> **✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* Now complete! *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧**  
>  \+ [The Fall of Skywalker](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27821176/chapters/68111416) | The ending to the Skywalker Saga that we collectively deserved — a tale of mythic return and the final stand of both Light and Dark.
> 
>   
> 

Rey balances on Ben’s lap, trying to ignore the way his strong, graceful fingers are creeping under the curves of her arse.  _ Protectors of Gothika _ looks even more amazing splashed across his living room screen than she could’ve imagined from the concept art — and her hands tighten on the controller as her professor’s own slide beneath her body, cupping the swells of her rump.

Even a day or two ago he would’ve already been dragging her back to his bed, but right now he contents himself with only kneading her curves, like he’s trying to seduce her away from the videogame.

She wriggles in his lap, teasing him, sighing inwardly as he tightens his grip and pleasure ghosts through her nerves.

“Why don’t you want to mate with me?”

Rey’s stomach drops at the question.

Suddenly the controller is creaking in her hands, plastic seams protesting her stranglehold. Her vision squares as she stares at the screen, staunchly refusing to look at him. “Do we have to talk about this?”

“Come on.” He squeezes her arse, urging her. “Tell me.”

Her avatar keeps running, giant berserker boots pounding the emerald hillside like her runaway heartbeat as she jams the thumbstick forward. It’s just a skirmish against the game’s AI, of course, but pausing the game would mean they’re really doing this.  _ Really _ having this conversation, not gasping out a few easily-forgotten words in the throes of sex.

“Have you thought about what that would mean?” Rey asks, fighting to keep her voice level as Ben hitches her closer.

“You in my bed every night? Yeah. I’ve thought about it.” His massive hands wander over her body, one straying up to fondle her breasts through the thin cotton of her t-shirt as the other roams her inner thighs. “I can’t  _ stop _ thinking about it.”

She doesn’t pull away from his touch, but she doesn’t let herself sink into it, either. He’s not seeing things clearly; his rut’s blinded him to reason. “And every day?”

He chuckles softly — and Rey hates the way the sound makes her want to surrender to him, just forget this whole thing and distract him with a hard fuck. God knows it’d be easy enough; his erection is hardening beneath her now and her pussy is soaked, her folds slipping as she resettles herself on top of him. 

“Yeah, I’d fuck you every day, too. I wouldn’t be able to help myself.”

Rey pins her elbows to her sides, trying to hold the hem of her shirt down as he pushes it higher. “If anyone found out you’d mated with one of your students,  _ Professor _ , it’d be a scandal.”

“ _ Scandal _ ,” he scoffs, gently mocking her — and then his hands are under her tee, claiming her tits as he traps her back against his chest.

“ _ Yes _ , Ben. Scandal.” She waves the controller at the screen, but he only noses her hair out of the way, tracing a line of slow, soft kisses along the curve of her neck. “Think about  _ Protectors of Gothika _ .  _ Starkiller _ . All of it, all the people working for you — you’re risking—”

“Let me worry about that.”

Fury lances through her nerves, bringing her back to herself. 

She thumbs the skirmish to a stop and pushes against the huge man’s arms, struggling to her feet. Blood sings in her ears as she turns back to regard Ben; he’s watching her gravely, dark eyes intense as a storm.

“That’s exactly the point, Ben — I  _ can’t _ just let you worry about it!”

“You’re going to have to someday. Maybe not me, if the idea is so awful to you — but someone.”

It’s fucking unfair that he should look so good in his black tee and joggers, sounding perfectly in control as he watches her. Perfectly  _ rational _ , despite the fact that he’s spouting nonsense. 

“What’s  _ that _ supposed to mean?”

“I mean, unless you’re planning to stay unmated forever…” Ben trails off, snorting dubiously.

Rey’s mouth is suddenly bone-dry — and she simply stares at him. Waiting for him to work it out.

Finally the curve vanishes from his plush lips. “Rey, be reasonable.”

‘What’s more reasonable than not making yourself a burden to someone else?” she growls.

He rises, and suddenly her meager height advantage is gone. She’s left glowering up at him again, reminded every instant of the differences between them.

Alpha. Omega.

Even if not for their designations, they’re from entirely different worlds.

Rey’s nose twitches as Ben scowls down at her, strains of incredulity mingling with his musk. “You think Omegas are a  _ burden? _ ”

Rage flares through her, but she shoves it back. He doesn’t know any better. With both his parents still alive, how  _ could _ he? “I think bad things happen to Omegas who don’t remember how to look after themselves.” 

Ben must sense something’s wrong, because he moves toward Rey like he’s going to embrace her, and his frown deepens as she stumbles backward. “What aren’t you telling me, sweetheart?”

“ _ Not _ that it’s any of your business—”

She breaks off, heaving a breath. Even after so many years, even dulled by the soothing glamour of heat hormones, the anger is just  _ there _ beneath the surface. Always. 

“I… I told you that I lost my parents when I was eleven, yeah?”

Ben nods.

“Thing is, it wasn’t both at once.” Her voice emerges gruff, hoarse, but at least it’s not breaking with sobs. “Dad went first. Car crash. And then Mum…” 

Rey swallows hard, keeping the ancient grief imprisoned down in the darkness. Down where she doesn’t have to think about it — the iceberg buried in the ocean like a dagger. 

“It broke her heart. And that was that.”

“Oh, fuck.” Ben’s fingers flex beside his thighs, and she knows he’s holding himself back from reaching out to her. “Rey … I’m so sorry.” 

“Yeah, I know, deepest condolences and all that,” Rey mutters — and his scowl deepens. 

“Why didn’t you tell me before?”

“Because I don’t want your pity, Ben,” she snaps, cheeks flaming as she fidgets in discomfort. “I’m only telling you now so you’ll understand why I can’t— why  _ we _ can’t—” 

Hot tears prick the corners of her eyes, and she blinks them back. She can’t lose control. Not now, and risk undermining the very point she’s trying to make.

“—why this is all we can  _ ever _ be. Do you understand?”

For a long time Ben only stares at her, those soulful, smoldering eyes fixed on hers — and Rey’s so afraid of what he might say that she can’t move, can’t breathe, can’t  _ think _ .

Then he nods. Just once, wordlessly, a tendril of his silky black hair snagging on the corner of his glasses.

“Thanks,” Rey murmurs. 

Her entire body is trembling, lungs dragging in breaths like she’s drowning. She glances past his muscle-corded arm, only now remembering that the controller is cradled in her own nerveless fingers. 

“Can we, uh, go back to the game, and pretend like that never happened? I’m not trying to be a sad sack or anything—”

“ _ Rey _ ,” he interrupts, so sharply that she jumps. “You’re not being a sad sack, holy  _ shit _ , honey…” His gaze darkens as it settles on the controller. “And no. We can’t.”

Ben tugs the plastic device from her fingers, tossing it aside on the couch. His hands claim her waist, and he nudges her toward the bedroom.

“The game can wait. Let’s go.”

“Now?” Rey knows she’s gaping, but she can’t help herself. “ _ Really? _ ”

He rolls his eyes, still shepherding her toward the corridor. “Not like  _ that _ . Get your mind out of the gutter, Omega.”

“Then—”

She breaks off with a shriek as he scoops her up, his strides lengthening once she’s in his arms. Her fingers knot in the front of his shirt, but he won’t drop her; he’s cradling her as easily as ever, his expression solemn as his gaze finds hers again. “Take my glasses off.”

Rey’s instantly suspicious. “Why?”

“Because I don’t want to stop touching you.”

He says it so simply — and her stomach swoops as his fingers tighten on her body. 

What the hell’s he up to?

“On the night table.”

Ben swings Rey close enough so that she can drop his glasses safely on the flat wooden surface, then kneels on the bed, settling her in the mussed nest of blankets. He collapses beside her with an easy sigh, pulling her close until her head is tucked in the hollow beneath his chin.

Rey knows she’s as stiff as driftwood in his arms, but she’s utterly lost. “What are you doing?”

“Cuddling you.”

She scowls into the titanic man’s neck as he hooks her knee, drawing her leg across his. “I told you, Ben, I don’t want your pity—”

“This isn’t pity, Rey.” His fingers twists into her hair — and fuck, he’s  _ shaking _ as he urges her closer, aligning their bodies like binary stars. “Sweetheart, I… I’m not a robot, okay?” He heaves a ragged breath. “I’m having a lot of feelings right now, and I just… I need to hold you. Please.”

It’s the  _ please _ that damn near breaks her.

Her arms know how to move, one wrapping across his barrel chest and the other curling around her own body. His hand is already there waiting, practically swallowing hers as their fingers interlace, bodies curling together in unconscious harmony.

“Relax, babygirl,” Ben murmurs. “Just be here with me.”

Rey is self-conscious at first. Every breath, every swallow feels magnified a hundredfold knowing he’s listening. Phantom itches throb on her skin like starbursts, and she noses into Ben’s neck — first just to rub a stray hair out of her eyes, then because every part of him is welcoming and irresistible.

He nuzzles into her hair and she wriggles closer, clinging to his massive body.

_ Daddy _ … __

The word is becoming so instinctive that Rey doesn’t even balk at it anymore — but for the second time in entirely too few minutes, she wants to bawl.

It’s not  _ fair _ .

The world is taunting her, waving a perfect Alpha under her nose, tempting her to break the only promise that’s ever mattered. The promise to be complete all by herself. To not do  _ that _ to anyone; to not have it done to her.

But Ben Solo feels like home.

It’s not fair that her heat is ending. That soon enough she’ll have to go back to her  _ actual _ home. Her actual life.

She loses herself in his heartbeat, holding him tight as minutes drift into hours, trying to clutch at each perfect moment as it slips away.

* * *

Rey knows Ben’s been awake for a few minutes from the way he’s been stroking her back, his touch firm and possessive.

Hungry, too.

One of his hands skims down to claim a soft handful of her arse, and she arches her spine, nudging into the touch. “How much longer do we have?”

“Until your heat’s over?”

Rey nods.

Ben’s hair tickles the tip of her nose as he lifts his head, leaning close to her mating gland — and her skin pebbles with pleasure as he inhales deeply. 

“A day. Maybe two.” He resettles his head on the pillow above hers, chin resting on the crown of her head. “It really depends on how you feel.”

“Oh.”

“And how  _ do _ you feel?”

“I…” Suddenly her stomach is churning and her head spinning, like she’s caught on an horrific tilt-a-whirl. “…should check in with my friends again.”

The somber Alpha grunts; doubtless that’s not the answer he was expecting, but his voice isn’t unkind. “I can hop on the console for a few. Come find me when you’re done.”

His perfect lips graze her forehead in a kiss, and he collects his glasses from the nightstand. Then he’s gone.

Rey grabs her phone and scurries to the bathroom, lightheaded with dread as she locks the door.

A few dazed minutes later, she finds the text from Rose buried among an avalanche of missed communiques.

_Genuinely amazed your shitty landlord got his act together so fast_ — _you’re back in business, lady!! WOO!!_ 😘 \o/

Something wretched plummets in Rey’s gut.

Most of the messages clogging up her notifications are run-of-the-mill updates, but the texts from Rose — along with a curiously cryptic missive from Finn claiming that he’ll “explain everything soon” — are damning.

She can go back to her apartment anytime. 

Tonight, even.

“Fuck,” Rey mutters, her slamming pulse making it almost impossible to think.

She should want to get away from Ben’s place as fast as she can — but even knowing the danger, she’s dazed. Stunned by her heat, maybe, unwilling to escape the Alpha intent on claiming her.

Or perhaps Rey feels safer because he doesn’t want her anymore. Not like  _ that _ . Not after she told him why she can’t ever be mated.

She emerges slowly, turning her phone over in her hands as she looks for Ben, finding him slouched on his living room couch. He’s kicked back and cradling the controller — but his dark eyes are locked on her. Waiting.

Her lips twitch in a dry smile. “Did you just jack my instance?”

“You jacked my apartment for the last few days. Not that I’m complaining.” Ben arches an eyebrow. “What’s the verdict?”

“Not ready yet.”

It’s not a lie, strictly speaking, Maybe he won’t be able to smell the shallow deception rolling from her skin.

And he doesn’t — or if he does, he offers no sign of it. Just nods in acknowledgement.

Only now does Rey realize that she isn’t wearing pants. Now that she sees Ben’s gaze traversing the length of her legs, his expression tinged with something that instinctively makes her chest ache.

Her mating gland cramps, sending a frisson of need through her body. Suddenly words are on her lips: “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. I mean…” The room goes quiet as Ben thumbs the  _ Protectors of Gothika _ beta to a stop, the menu music tinkling faintly. “…I’m sorry, too.”

Her lips are wooden, numb — but she’s doing the right thing, even if the ancient Omega voice at the back of her skull is raging at her, demanding that she change her mind. Choose Ben, and unleash chaos on the life she’s fought so hard to build. “I wish things could be different.”

“Me, too.” He offers a faint smile. “At least we have right now.”

Rey’s throat clenches painfully, and she nods.

“Okay, then.” Ben leans back against the sofa, his smile widening to a properly lustful smirk as he sets the controller aside. “My lap’s feeling empty, Omega.”

Rey is only too glad to drop her phone onto the couch, too — and Ben’s arms are around her as soon as she kneels over his thighs, guiding her lips to meet his.

He kisses her ravenously, as though it hasn’t been a mere few minutes they’ve been apart but lifetimes. His tongue probes her mouth, caressing her and stirring her as she sinks onto the soft fabric of his joggers — and a moan shudders through her throat as her crease finds his hardening cock.

The crotch of her absorbent panties is already drenched with slick as she settles onto him, knotting her fingers in his hair.

“Tell me you want me like this, at least,” Ben mutters between kisses, tugging at Rey’s lower lip with his teeth until she gasps with longing. “That you haven’t hated being here with me.”

How that pretty pain can make her sex burn for him is a mystery — one she’ll never have the opportunity to explore, let alone solve, after tonight.

Rey’s heart cracks.

She traces her thumbs along the line of his stubbled jaw, trying to memorize how this feels as his arm snakes tighter about her waist and his cock twitches eagerly through the soft cotton of his pants. “I want you, Ben.”

A growl of longing rumbles through his chest, and he crushes his lips to hers with brutal force, driving one hand down the back of her panties to claim her arse cheek beneath the fabric.

Rey splays her knees, shoving her hips down flush with Ben’s — but his rigid length is only there beneath her for a moment before his fingers tighten on her butt, urging her back up.

He drags her knickers down to her knees and works one leg free, not even bothering with the other. One of his huge hands buries itself in her hair, holding her face to his, and his lips reclaim Rey’s in a feverish kiss.

The knot of grief in her gut won’t loosen, even as she clings to him, claiming his mouth with her tongue and savoring his sweet taste.

_ Alpha, my body belongs to you, take me... _

Ben’s thighs graze the inside of hers, cotton teasing her bare skin as he heaves his hips up for a moment and then settles back on the couch. He yanks her down onto his lap again — and even without looking she can feel that he’s pushed the waistband of his joggers down to expose himself.

Rey murmurs into Ben’s mouth as his cockhead finds her slit, his skin suffused with heat as he notches himself into her.

_ Alpha, I wish I could belong to you... _

He claims her with painstaking slowness, sucking on her lower lip as he splits her to her core. Her thighs tremble as he strains into her, taking her utterly, and she’s grateful for the way his fingers are clenched around the curves of her arse bruise-tight. The pain is grounding, anchoring her mind in the present the same way their bodies are entwined.

Ben grunts as he aligns himself with her completely, his rock-hard prick buried inside her and making her pussy tingle with pleasure. It’s overwhelming to feel him intruding on her very being like this, bending her soft walls until every breath is a whimper — and then he retreats with equal languor, withdrawing from her soaked channel as inexorably as the tide.

Rey moans softly as his glans spreads her wide, his tip  _ there _ at her verge, threatening to pop free. But he doesn’t pull out of her altogether, just pauses like he’s treading water until he thrusts into her again, sinking deep. 

He takes his time breaking her open to his satisfaction. Their lips hover a few millimeters apart, occasionally brushing against each other, but they’re not kissing; Rey’s too overcome by the way Ben’s fucking her to do anything but cling to him, rocking her hips to match his tectonic rhythm.

She gasps as he seats himself in her completely, his cockhead warming her cervix, the base of his cock unyielding against her clit. “Ben…”

“Don’t call me that,” he rasps, regripping around her waist and surging hard. “You know what I want to hear.”

She does — and her fingertips trace circles on his sides of his neck as their foreheads meet. “Daddy.”

“Yes, baby,” he breathes, leaning into her. He caresses her back beneath her shirt, raking his nails along the length of her spine. “ _ Fuck _ , yes…”

It’s like the first flush of Omega heat is spreading through Rey’s body again as she presses closer to Ben, clenching around his cock.  _ Needing _ him.

He tugs her t-shirt off and then she’s naked in his lap as he cups her tits, bringing his mouth down to meet them. He alternates between sucking the hard peaks of her nipples and rolling them between his teeth, sending shockwaves of rapture through her nerves.

It’s so fucking perfect, even the way his stubble abrades her sensitive skin. Getting herself off to OmegaHub vids will never hold a candle to this.

Her throat starts to close again, but she gulps hard, trying to shake the pain.

She has to stay in the moment. All this time she’s been trying to fight her connection with Ben, but by tomorrow night she’ll be back in her own apartment, the last traces of true Omega-ness fading.

She has to remember everything. She can’t ruin it.

Ben pumps into her in long, smooth strokes, and she cards her fingers through his hair, trying to hold together. Her cunt is a symphony of bliss, stirred to ruinous pleasure with each new intrusion — and she hasn’t even come yet.

The soft, wet sounds of his mouth against her skin fade into her heartbeat as she throws her head back and rides him. She’s drum-tight, but his thick shaft pistons in and out of her easily, anointed by the slick flowing from her womb like a fountainhead.

“Faster, Daddy,” Rey pleads.

His ragged jaw grazes her breasts as he shakes his head. “Not yet, princess.”

No matter how she tries to induce Ben into fucking into her faster, he only tightens his hold on her, forcing her to submit to his will.

“Don’t make me Command you,” the hulking Alpha mutters after one such attempt.

“Why are you torturing me?” Her voice quavers with a frustrated sob. “I can’t stand it…”

“Oh, baby.” Ben holds her as she quakes, soothing her with another sensuous kiss. “I’m not trying to torture you, I promise. Just taking my time.” Her wet nipples drag against the front of his shirt, and he tweaks one, rolling the bud between his thumb and index finger. “Enjoying every inch of you.”

Her lashes dip as he nuzzles into her cheek again — but then he nudges her head to the side to bare the hollow of her neck, where her mating gland throbs like a hex.

“Ben—”

“Trust me,” he croons — and it isn’t an Alpha Command, but it might as well be for the way she stays frozen in his arms.

He cradles her head, and his musk fills her nose as his breath heats her skin  _ there _ . At the one part of her body he simply  _ cannot  _ bite.

Rey whimpers as he kisses her swollen gland — softly at first, then more insistently, the pressure against the taboo spot growing heavier as he drags the flat of his tongue over her skin.

“Ben, d-don’t—” she chokes out, half-paralyzed with terror.

“I won’t bite you,” he snaps, reading her mind — or maybe her scent. His molars creak as he clenches his jaw, and his roused cock throbs inside her, making her cunt shiver with a spectral orgasm. “Mating glands are tougher than you think, sweetheart. I’m not going to break it, I just—”

Ben’s body tenses strangely, and the world shifts as he drags her beneath him on the sofa, the fabric rough beneath her bare back.

“My slick,” Rey murmurs, abruptly self-conscious as the sticky substance trickles along the creases under her arse cheeks. “Alpha, your couch—”

“I don’t give a shit about the couch.” Ben fucks into her harder now that his body is caging hers down — and he licks her gland, drawing a wet ribbon across her skin as he palms one of her breasts. “I have to taste you, Rey. Now, while you’re still mine.”

The quiet desperation in his voice makes her chest ache, the pain sudden and sure as a flaring match. If there’s any mercy it’s that Ben’s too distracted fucking her to see her face. 

She can’t let him see her desolation. Her weakness.

Rey plants her feet against the cushions, bracing herself as he rocks into her hungrily, breaths shallow with his weight. Beads of heat flare in her pussy, making her sigh with need. It’s his precum, it must be, his raw essence seeping into her sex and starting to claim her.

Then he sucks her gland, and the rapturous  _ tugging _ makes a groan twists out of her throat. 

Ben sucks harder, swirling his tongue over the distended patch of her skin between each thrust. His needy touch sends ripples of mind-numbing bliss through Rey’s body, and he hums with laughter as she writhes.

_ He  _ is _ torturing me. Trying to convince me to stay with him. _

Rey clings to the huge Alpha, fingers clamped tight on his biceps, torn between the rapture throbbing in her neck and his measured intrusions in her pussy.

“Unnh — Daddy … please—”

His hips snap harder as he strives into her, his shaft swelling thicker and stretching her walls as he tongues her mating gland.

Rey cries out in ecstasy, arching her back to meet each harsh invasion. Her lips don’t remember how to form words; she’s so thirsty, her throat parched, her body buzzing like a live wire.

_ Daddy … Ben... _

She’s his. Utterly, and without reservation.

Her jaw clenches — and suddenly she knows what’s supposed to happen, memories borne by the ancient Omega awareness pouring through her mind. Whispering to her, showing her how his gland is supposed to be there between his teeth, the sweet nectar filling her mouth and mixing with the iron tang of blood as she crushes it.

As she bites him.

As he bites  _ her _ .

Rey tries to lower her chin, but Ben’s strong fingers cup her jaw, keeping her head tilted back against the couch cushion. Forcing her to bare herself to him, without the slightest hope of doing anything but huff helplessly as he defiles her.

“Daddy,” she murmurs, nearly lost to the sensations as he ruts into her harder, alternately sucking and lapping at her mating gland — but even though the word shudders through her throat, it’s like he doesn’t hear her.

The words echo through her head, unrelenting. Demanding to be spoken.

Between Ben’s intoxicating ministrations and Rey’s own fear she’s nearly lost, her body boneless … but she has to say it.

“Professor.” Her voice is reedy with dread. “Ben … I want you to do it. I want you to bite me.”

A snarl rumbles through his body, low and ravenous — but nothing changes. Not the soft pressure of her lips against her mating gland, nor his punishing rhythm.

She tries again. “Ben, please—”

“No.”

He’s lapping at her gland again, sucking her skin every few thrusts before Rey’s mind makes sense of the quiet syllable. “B-But—”

“You don’t want it, Rey. You were really clear about that.” She wails softly as he turns her head to the side, giving her mating gland a final kiss before tugging at her earlobe with his teeth. “No, baby.”

“Ben, you  _ can’t _ —”

“Nope,” he rumbles. “No arguing. This is just your heat talking—”

She pushes against him, shoving at his shoulders, but in vain. He’s too huge, too solid to move. “This is not my  _ bloody heat talking! _ ”

“—and I won’t do that to you, sweetheart.”

“But I want it!” Rey splutters. “I’ve changed my mind—”

“ _ Enough, _ ” Ben growls. “Thank me when you’re clearheaded.”

He pulls himself out of her with an audible pop, and she shrieks with rage as he scoops her up again, undeterred despite her flailing. Her body only responds drunkenly; he hardly has to exert his strength as he wrestles her down onto her knees in front of the couch, pinning her against it with his hips as the rug scrapes her knees.

His drenched erection presses into the swell of her arse as he uses one huge hand to trap her wrists against the seat — and his breaths warm her hair as he guides himself back to her, finding her pussy and nudging into her from behind.

“No—” Rey grits out, but he’s already thrusting into her slick-soaked hollow, splintering her on his thick phallus.

The Alpha almost purrs with pleasure as he sheathes himself in her to the hilt, claiming her as he holds her down. She tries to pull her knees together, but his muscular thighs hold her open, splayed and bent over the sofa.

His harsh breaths heat the nape of her neck, and for a moment Rey’s heart rises.

Then Ben reaches around to the front of her body.

“No,” she begs. “No, p-please—”

It’s too late. His fingertips settle on her clit, and he massages the nexus of nerves as his cock tranfixes her pussy, the twin sensations trapping her as much as his grip on her wrists.

“Yeah, babygirl,” Ben growls, fucking into her faster, his thrusts harsher as she squirms. He strains in her, hesitating at the peak of every long stroke, forcing whimpers past her lips. “Time to wring you out the way you need.”

“But I  _ want _ you,” Rey weeps, her mouth empty, craving the taste of his skin. “Daddy, please—”

“It’s alright,” he husks, his voice quiet with hurt. “You can stop calling me that.”

He fucks into her harder. Deeper. Ravaging her as she fights him.

“Ben, I want you to mate me — r-really—”

“Shh, sweetheart. You don’t have to pretend.” The skin between her shoulder blades warms as he kisses her. “Just relax, I’ll get you off as much as you need.”

_ But I’m not pretending, dammit! _

Pain claims Rey’s throat, muscles knotting as she chokes up, and she can only whimper wordlessly as Ben slams into her. Already she can feel the twitching at the base of his cock that heralds a knot, and though she tugs at the living manacle of his hand, he keeps her wrists pinned down.

He has to do it now, before she comes — but bent over in front of him like this, there’s no chance of it.

“Don’t worry, babygirl,” the dark-haired man murmurs over her shoulder, making her shiver with rapture as they quicken together. Her pussy is starting to come undone even as her frustrated tears dampen the sofa, the sensations racking her body beautiful and wretched and unforgivable. “We’re almost there.”

“Daddy, no—  _ please _ — _! _ ”

It’s too late. Ben’s knot erupts in her cunt, claiming her for the last time — and then there’s only their bodies moving together, wringing orgasms from each other in wordless unison until the Alpha’s apartment is silent and still.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, I know — I’m a terrible, awful, monster, but I swear to you, this is the last gut-punch cliffie in this story. Only good things from here on out, bbys!!


	11. The Babygirl Who Got Away

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Home._ He has to get home.
> 
> Somehow he manages to swallow the burning fluid back and heave himself upright. His own door is there before him, its familiar shape a few paces away — and only now, as something moves in the shadows, does he realize why the lobby attendant was bothering him about the building’s guest policy.
> 
> Someone’s waiting.
> 
> The knot in his gut clenches tight as a figure melts out of the shadows beyond the entryway. Ben’s vision swims, a strange ringing in his ears as the pain in his hand pounds like his quickening heart.
> 
> “Rey?” he gasps.
> 
> **WARNING: Minor connection aboard the pain train ahead!**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **CW // DUBCON/NONCON AHEAD, reader beware!!**
> 
> I’m really, _really_ behind on comments -- tysm to everyone who’s written, I swear I’ll be responding asap!!
> 
> **TW FOR THIS CHAPTER // alcohol/intoxication**  
>  Ben is (to put it mildly) not doing well without Rey.  
> Also, this chapter doesn’t have the usual … ehm … release. Only one real chapter left, and then the epilogue!!!
> 
> Huge thanks to [Ev3rMichelle](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ev3rMichelle) for being a magical smut wizard and beta reading this (and every!) chapter!
> 
> Did you read the TWs? **Please read them again!!**
> 
> **✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* Now complete! *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧**  
>  \+ [The Fall of Skywalker](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27821176/chapters/68111416) | The ending to the Skywalker Saga that we collectively deserved — a tale of mythic return and the final stand of both Light and Dark.
> 
> 🖤
> 
>   
> 

Ben slouches on the bench, ass frozen to the wooden slats as he stares into swirling grey oblivion of Boston harbor. A foghorn sounds through the hush, its melancholy cry muted to velvet by the falling snow.

Even objectively, 2020 has been the longest goddamn year imaginable — and these last few months have been brutal.

At least before September he’d never met  _ her _ . 

She would’ve only been a face on a screen if not for Ben’s weakness, his desire to satisfy that taboo before the fall term began.

He probably would’ve assumed she was a Beta, maybe even another Alpha if he’d noted her tenacity — but that would’ve been the end of his regard for her. He would’ve been safe. 

No webcam could’ve possibly done Rey Niima justice. 

The barest thought of her name and he’s back there again, three months ago in the worst morning of his life. Awakening to find himself alone in his bed, the little Omega gone like a dream. Panic clenching his gut as he checks the apartment, the berry perfume of her body already fading, not even a stray t-shirt forgotten.

Only a single scrap of paper left on the countertop for him to find.

_ I need to figure things out. Give me space.  _ — _ Rey _

His mind spools back further, as it had then, to the night before. To the way she’d wept after their last fuck, curled in his arms and bawling, clutching him close even as she shook her head. Refusing to tell him  _ why _ .

She’d been hysterical beyond words, so he’d simply cradled her. Wiped tears and snot from her face with a warm washcloth when her sobs quieted. Tucked her into his bed, curling his body around hers, savoring — if guiltily — the way her hand found his hip, his arm, urging him closer as she sank into a wrecked slumber.

Then awakening. The note. The corroded feeling in his chest that antacids can’t touch, worsening as each week drags past.

He’s drifting like Billy Pilgrim, untethered from time by the very force of her. Knowing that she’s out there, somewhere.

That she doesn’t want him.

The crunch of tires in snow yanks him back — and he’s there beside the sterling harbor again, nose running and ass numb from the winter’s chill as the ostentatious Ferrari purrs to a stop beside the curb.

Usually Ben rolls his eyes when he sees the thing, but maybe absence  _ does _ make the heart grow fonder, because he heaves himself to his feet and walks toward it without so much as arching an eyebrow.

Armie’s kindly face is even more welcoming than the car’s warmth. “Ah, there you are, Marvel’s Ent-Man.”

“Hilarious,” Ben grumbles, crumpling his body enough to fit in the passenger seat. The cluttered footwell isn’t  _ nearly _ spacious enough for his legs, but some of his sadness eases once he’s nestled in the vehicle. “Good to see you, buddy.”

“You, too, big man,” Armie offers. “Sorry about the mess.”

Ben peers down at the lake of objects knocking around his ankles, all of it evidently cat-related. “What  _ is _ this stuff?”

“Millie’s litter has been  _ trying _ , to put it mildly,” his business partner sighs, the car’s gentle hum changing timbre as he shifts the Ferrari into gear. “I’ll tell you all about it on the way.”

* * *

Millicent is an angry-eyed orange blob in the corner of Armie’s living room by the time the redheaded man catches on to how drunk Ben really is.

“—so we’ve begun scheduling IT routes for in-home maintenance, but otherwise it’s more or less business as usual.”

Ben giggles as the furry ginger sphere wobbles in its cardboard box. A single foot emerges to point skyward as a pink tongue mlems its center of mass. “Your cat was full of smaller cats.”

“Don’t laugh at Her Highness — she’s a sacred vessel of life, not a nesting doll,” Armie scolds, tossing a peanut, and Ben snickers as it hits him in the forehead. “Oi, did you hear me, you drunken Frigidaire? I told you to slow down on the Johnny, but  _ nope _ , someone had to be a hero…”

“Frigi-what-the- _ what? _ ” Ben slurs, distracted as Millicent retracts her stray foot, returning to Overgrown Tribble configuration.

“ _ Frigidaire _ ,” Armie enunciates deliberately. “As in, you are tall and broad of beam, much akin to a refrigerator.”

“Ha fuckin’ ha.”

The other man shakes his head, eyeing him hawkishly. “You’re welcome, by the way.”

“ _ You’re _ welcome,” Ben returns. “You’re gonna be a great professor. Better than me.”

The other man shakes his head — and he smiles but only self-consciously, the expression more of a grimace. “Chancellor Palpatine didn’t exactly sound thrilled about you tagging out.”

“Yeah, well, old fossil should be grateful,” Ben snaps. “You’re fr’m First Order Games, and you’re not gonna fuck a damn scholarship student.”

Wasted as he is, Ben can see the way Armie’s face subtly changes, his eyebrows lifting in the middle, lips tightening.

_ Pity _ . The kind  _ she _ hadn’t wanted it from Ben.

It’s excruciating.

“Given what you’ve told me,” the ginger man ventures, slowly turning his whiskey glass in his hands like he’s grateful for the excuse to look away, “it sounds like everything ran its natural course. Neither Palpatine nor anyone else will probably ever find out about what happened between you and Rey. If she was going to report you to the administration, I’m sure she would’ve done it by now.”

Ben grunts noncommittally. That’s far from the point, but he’s too exhausted to correct his friend.

“At least she didn’t go into Omega Frenzy. Some of those late bloomers, you know … you can’t be too careful.”

Armie means well, of course — but the thought of a starry-eyed Rey truly, unreservedly  _ burning  _ for Ben to claim her is enough to make his throat tighten.

“Think of it this way,” the other man adds, “at least you’ll never have to run into her again.”

“I thought you were trying to cheer me up,” Ben growls.

The weight falling on his shoulder startles him, but it’s only Armie’s hand, squeezing reassuringly. “I know it hurts, but it’ll get better in time.”

“What if I don’t  _ want _ it to get better?”

The question is soft, the words gravelly with fear. All this time and nothing’s changed, nothing’s  _ healed _ .

“You need some hope, brother. Something to live for.” Armie’s grip tightens briefly before falling away. “Tell you what: I’ll give you one of Millie’s kittens, how about that?”

“Armie—”

“By the look of things, we already have a candidate.”

Ben’s shin stings, and he manages to focus his vision long enough to find the orange pufflet that’s mountaineering its way up his jeans.

He scoops up the tiny creature; he can easily cup it in one hand, a dandelion-soft bundle of warmth that mews and wriggles as he brings it closer. 

He peers at the kitten as its breaths fog his glasses. Its small, wet nose boops Ben’s as it sniffs him, and a sandpapery tongue scrapes him in the next moment, giving him a tentative lick.

Suddenly the sobs are right  _ there _ — and he swallows hard, forcing them back.

“Kitten,” he mumbles.

Not the companion he’d dreamed of, far from it … and as Ben sets the baby animal on the floor, all he can think of watching it straggles back to its mother is lost, lonely Rey.

No. Surely she’s happy — or at least content. Her lectures and weekly emailed updates have been unimpeachably excellent.

_ He’s _ the one who’s lost.

“I’m sorry, mate. I shouldn’t have pushed you.” Armie squeezes his shoulder again as a single, fat tear burns out of him and races down his cheek, a sea of others at its back. “I’ll drive you home.”

* * *

Ben falls asleep on the way, only jerking awake as the Ferrari lurches into park. His building looms over them, topmost windows sunk in the darkness.

“Here we are, Professor.”

“Don’t call me that,” Ben snaps instinctively, the words whisky-fuzzy.

“Sorry.” Armie seems genuinely abashed as he pats Ben on the shoulder again. “You gonna be able to make it up the stairs alright?”

Ben glares at the ghostly ginger shape in the driver’s seat, vision sloshing. “There is. An  _ elevator _ . You prat.”

“I meant  _ those _ stairs,” Armie replies, nodding to the narrow steps that lead to the building’s front door.

Ben hears his own mouth snap shut. “Oh.”

“What say I just stay here until you’re at the front door?”

“What say you jusht…” Ben flaps a hand. “Y’know.”

“Piss off?” Armie asks mildly.

“ _ Yes _ .” He knows he’s being too loud, too sloppy, and tries to reel himself back in. “Yes. Piss off.”

“Righto. Just as you summit that mighty peak, Sir Edmund.”

Ben glares in the other man’s direction. “I don’ even get t’be Tensing Norgay?”

Armie’s coppery hair glints under the dome light as he shakes his head. “Sorry old boy. Too white, too tall — and I’m not fully convinced you can do it on your own. No Norgay for you.”

“You  _ dick _ ,” Ben grumbles under his breath, scrabbling for the door handle.

Armie snorts with laughter. “Here, let me help you orienteer your way out of my car, you git.”

The chill air is the only thing that keeps Ben from falling as he heaves himself out of the low vehicle, and he skids on the patchy ice, limbs windmilling. He’s almost proud of himself for not wiping out until he hears Armie snickering behind him.

“Oh  _ well  _ done. Now that you’ve got the standing up bit managed, the rest should be a cinch.”

Ben manages to swipe the passenger door shut, but regrets it instantly. He hadn’t truly felt the cold until Armie’s friendly heckling was out of reach.

Something buzzes behind him — and he glances back to see his friend watching him through the open passenger window. “Go on, then. Further up and further in.”

Maybe it’s just the knowledge that Armie’s still there that gets Ben up the stairs to the building’s front door. His presence is more comforting than any handrail, and pal that he is, he even applauds as Ben finally manages to get the front door open.

Ben waves back at the Ferrari, but his heart still sinks as it changes gear, the window buzzing up again. A pale hand flashes behind the glass — or maybe it’s just a reflection from one of the building’s lights.

Then Armie’s gone.

Ben’s so wasted that his eyes are still stubbornly trying to cross as the preposterous vehicle slides away into the night. Even worse, his stomach’s churning at being left alone with his thoughts as he faces down the keypad, fumbling through his wallet to find his keycard. 

It’s as though his mind’s trying to punish him for refusing to think of  _ her _ now, while he’s vulnerable; his gut lurches again as the remembrance of her berry scent hits him.

Or maybe it’s just the whisky making him nauseous — and bile claws at the back of his throat in the next instant.

_ Definitely _ the whisky.

The inner door clicks open and Ben shoulders through, looking down to escape notice, but the night attendant is already halfway across the lobby, key card in hand to help him.

“Sorry about that,” Ben mutters, trying to make his way toward the elevators.

The attendant tags along beside him. “It’s no problem, Mr. Solo. Only—”

“Really, won’t happen again.”  _ Fuck _ , is he actually slurring or is he just  _ worried _ that he is? The memory of her scent is so powerful that it’s dragging him under.

He picks up his pace, waving a hand as the night attendant witters on behind him, spouting something about Chandrila Tower’s guest policy. Fortunately there’s an elevator carriage waiting at the ground floor — and sighs, relieved as the doors roll snap behind him.

His solace is short-lived. The elevator shudders skyward in the next moment, and his stomach heaves as he sprawls against the wall.

The Ben Solo reflected in the mirrored keypad ahead of him is a mess; he can see it, even if blearily. Jaw shadowed with stubble, bruise-dark bags under bloodshot eyes. The kind of man anyone would stay away from on a sidewalk.

A few months ago he would’ve cared; he never would’ve ventured outside looking such a wreck. He wouldn’t have gotten dead drunk like this — or if he  _ had _ , he would’ve crashed on Armie’s couch.

He doesn’t dare sleep elsewhere now. Not for fear of how he might awaken.

The impulse is dumb as all hell, but his fury is real — and he levers himself to his feet, surging forward to punch his reflection in the face.

Ben’s knuckles split on impact, but he doesn’t feel the jolt of pain until after finding the droplets of blood scattered across his doppelganger’s face.

“ _ Fuck _ ,” he hisses, clutching his injured hand in the other as it throbs, not even daring to look at it. Droplets trickle down along his fingers, but there’s nothing in his pockets to staunch the flow.

Ben shoulders through the narrow gap as the elevator settles, and the carriage’s movement catches his heel, sending him reeling.

The sudden impact as he hits the far wall nearly makes him lose his gorge. The memory of her scent taunts him as he hunches against the wall — so rich and real that he’s tempted to hunker here, acid stinging his throat and blood tracing rivulets along his hand, just to be with her ghost.

But his hand…

_ Home _ . He has to get home.

Somehow he manages to swallow the burning fluid back and heave himself upright. His own door is there before him, its familiar shape a few paces away — and only now, as something moves in the shadows, does he realize why the lobby attendant was bothering him about the building’s guest policy.

Someone’s waiting.

The knot in his gut clenches tight as a figure melts out of the shadows beyond the entryway. Ben’s vision swims, a strange ringing in his ears as the pain in his hand pounds like his quickening heart.

“Rey?” he gasps.

His stomach erupts, fire burning up his esophagus and through his mouth as nose as he throws up.

Then his knees give out.

Then oblivion.

* * *

Consciousness finds him, though nothing about it makes sense.

The rug was abrading his cheek a minute ago, but now he’s somewhere between sitting and lying down. His gut aches, so the throwing up part of things wasn’t a hallucination … but the acrid taste in his mouth is still countered by sweetness.

_ Rey. _

She was there, outside the door. Waiting for him.

He jerks but only succeeds in nearly tipping whatever he’s on, pressure constricting along the length of his body even though there’s softness under his head. Something’s cutting into him across his chest, too — but he can’t lift his hands to move it, or even rub his face.

It takes a few terrifying moments to blink his sealed lashes open, but he finds himself reclined in the open space between his kitchen and living room. A blanket’s been laid over his body, and he’s wearing a clean t-shirt and pajama pants — but whoever’s cleaned him up from his digestive pyrotechnics has also duct-taped him to the office chair from his study, reclining it back.

“You’re awake.”

Any angry reproach he’s dreamed of in the last three months evaporates as he sees Rey sitting on the corner of the couch closest to him, leather collar fastened safely around her neck. She’s just as lovely as he remembers, but her shoulders are slumped in her hoodie, and her countenance is drawn, sickly. 

Yet still her eyes blaze with that same vivid spark. It’s a small comfort, but right now Ben will take anything he can get.

He tears his gaze away from her beautiful face long enough to figure out what’s binding him. “You duct-taped me to a chair?”

Her lips twitch like she’s going to smile, but she doesn’t. “Well spotted, Professor.”

“I took the arms off this chair a couple months after I bought it.”

“Lucky for me you didn’t even move them out of your study.”

Thoughtfully, she’s covered a strip of each of his forearms with gauze, so the tape doesn’t stick to his skin too badly — but he can’t extricate himself from her bonds. She’s wrapped the tape around the stems of the arms; there’s no escape. Not easily, anyway. 

“Dare I ask why you have me restrained?” he asks dryly.

“I wasn’t sure how you’d react to seeing me.” Rey hesitates, and her gaze flickers with uncertainty. “Especially drunk.”

His mouth is watering from being so close to her, but still he can feel the lingering rasp of alcohol in his throat. “I  _ was _ drunk.”

“Very,” she agrees — and this time she  _ does _ smile, her lips pressed in a lopsided line.

His knuckles throb, and he glances down to assess the damage, but his hand is bandaged with soft cotton and more of that gauze. That’s probably why she started using it, his dazed mind realizes — and suddenly both his restraints and her wary gaze seem a lot more reasonable.

“I don’t think you broke anything, but you’ll probably want to get it X-rayed,” Rey tells him, her low voice so painfully familiar from weeks of lectures he can hardly believe she’s here. “Lots of little bones.”

He flexes his fingers, testing the pain. Whatever she’s done to take care of the injury, it’s more than a couple of band-aids. “How’d you know how to do this?”

“Foster brat.” 

She flashes that crooked smile again, but this time Ben only sees the pain she’s trying to hide behind it. The hole in his chest aches with reproach. “Fuck, I’m—”

“It’s alright,” Rey interrupts, a blush instantly blooming in her cheeks, “you don’t have to—”

“What are you even doing here?” he growls in abject mortification. His heart’s thudding, body reacting to her presence automatically — and he readjusts his hips, trying to hunch against his improvised restraints.

“I’ve been worried about you, Ben.” The soft way she says the words fucking hurts worse than anything, and she gazes at him like she’s feeling it, too. This raw, wretched sense of loss. “You look awful.”

Hungover or not his, inner Alpha is reasserting itself, twisting his voice into a snarl — and he tries to rein it in, but the pain’s been simmering too long. “You were  _ worried?  _ After you ripped my fucking heart out?”

Rey’s mouth pops open and she gasps quietly, stung.

“I-I didn’t mean to—” she begins, her voice quavering.

“Yeah, I know, you didn’t fucking  _ mean _ to,” Ben rasps, and the rest of her words die on her perfect lips. His heart’s beating so hard that he can only heave shallow breaths as her gaze burns into him. “But you did.”

For a long time they simply stare at each other.

“I’m nobody, Ben,” she says softly. “I’ve always been nobody.”

“Not to me. To me—” His voice breaks, and he gulps, trying to keep from snarling or sobbing or breaking down completely. “—dammit, Rey, to me you were  _ everything! _ ”

“I know — and it scared me. If you lost yourself like that because of me…” Her anguished gaze glitters; she’s as close to crying as he is. “Didn’t you get my note?”

“Yeah, Rey, I got your note,” Ben snaps coldly. He tugs at the duct tape restraints, nausea stirring in his gut again. It’s absolutely insane being tied up like this. “Can you let me go now?”

“No.”

He gapes at her. “ _ No? _ ”

“Not yet.” 

The only reason he’s not snarling is because she looks so scared of him still, like she might end up on the bad end of his fist. As though he could ever do that.

Not to anyone — shy of fascists, maybe. Himself, clearly. 

Never her.

As if sensing what he’s thinking, Rey glances at his bandaged hand. “I just… I have something to say, and I dunno how you’re going to take it. So…”

His nose is still wrecked from stomach acid, but he can smell her anxiety as she presses her flattened hands between her knees, palms together.

“Look, I was so afraid. Not just of what you were feeling … of what  _ I _ was feeling.” Rey’s thighs tense, tightening outside her hands, and Ben catches the hint of something shot through her scent like a ribbon. Something that’s rising, masked by the stark bouquet of her dread. “I never wanted to be anyone’s  _ anything _ , let alone someone’s Omega, until you.”

Her eyes are dark as she meets Ben’s gaze again — and it dawns on him why she’s keeping her hands clamped between her knees, as he finally sees the patch of reddened skin spreading from beneath her leather collar.

His mating gland throbs, cock twitching boldly at the sight of her blotched neck.

“You were so sure I was going to want to mate with you,” Rey goes on, the words spilling out faster, “a-and heat’s so intense—”

“I know, sweetheart.” The endearment is across Ben’s lips before he realizes what he’s said — and the knot in his chest goes tight enough to choke him. “I-I’m sorry, it slipped out.”

“It’s alright.” Rey drags her fingers through her loose chestnut hair, and she leans forward, elbows on her knees as she regards him. “Ben, being with you is so intense, but it turns out I, uh…” She clears her throat, and her eyes shimmer strangely. “I haven’t been doing very well without you.”

It’s sick and perverse and utterly  _ wrong _ , but his stomach flips with hope.

“I’m scared of being mated and losing myself — but I’m lost without you, too,” the Omega says quietly, face falling, and she worries at the knees of her jeans. “I don’t entirely know how to reconcile those two things.”

A tear traces a burning trail down Ben’s cheek, and his throat is so tight he can barely speak. “Sweetheart, if you’re not gonna let me go, can you, uh .. can you c’mere?”

She looks up, and there’s a glittering slash of a tear-trail along her cheek, too. “I guess so.”

Then it doesn’t matter that he can’t even wrap his arms around her and embrace her, or that the chair’s wheels creak in protest of their combined weight — she’s crawling into his lap and tears are coursing down his cheeks as she settles against him, tucking her head into the hollow between his shoulder and chin.

Ben leans into her, savoring the heat of her forehead against his cheek. Her breath warms his neck, making him shiver with pleasure when all he wants is to hold her, but he could forget everything being enfolded in her scent again.

He presses kisses to her forehead, over and over until he loses count. “I missed you.”

“I missed you, too.” She wraps her arm over his chest, squeezing tight and pressing herself to him that the chair wobbles precariously. “ _ So _ much, Ben. You have to believe me.”

“I know, babygirl,” he mumbles into her hair, deliriously happy even as his lips tingle with need. “Kiss me.”

Her words are muffled against his neck. “If that was supposed to be a Command—”

“It wasn’t.”

“But it wasn’t a question, either.”

He nuzzles into her, inhaling deeply. Just in case. “No.”

Her face turns to meet his like the sun finding the moon — and then her lips are pressed to his, burning and soothing and absolutely everything he’s been without.

_ Rey… babygirl… Omega... _

Her hand skims up his neck, cupping his jaw briefly before she knots her fingers in his hair, and he drinks her in, lightheaded as she responds just as feverishly.

Ben’s mating gland burns in his neck like a coal as Rey kisses him — but there’s still so much still to be said.

“I’m sorry,” he murmurs when they finally break apart, panting softly. “I know I came on really strong, but … I, uh…”

He has to say it. He might never get the chance again.

“ … I love you, Rey.”

“But your emails, your lecture notes…” Rey looks shell-shocked, but at least she doesn’t move.

“I was trying to be the professor you deserved,” he rumbles. 

“ _ Was? _ ” Her gaze sharpens, and in that moment somehow she knows: “You’re leaving.”

“Armitage Hux is taking over next semester. I—” His voice cracks as the months of sorrow surge up again, and the rest emerges as a whisper: “—I can’t.”

“Can’t what?”

Joy and grief and need are warring inside him, tearing him apart — and the duct tape restraints creak as he strains against them. 

_ God _ , if he could just fucking hold her properly...

But that’s exactly the problem. And though she’s kissed him, she still doesn’t trust him enough to let him go.

“I can’t be so close to you knowing that I lost you,” he grits out through the lump of pain in his chest.

“You didn’t lose me, Ben.”

Her thumb skims along his jaw, and something splatters on the front of her t-shirt. Two soft droplets; he’s still crying.

Rey’s weeping, too, her perfect eyes brimming over as she gazes up at him, stroking his hair, his cheek, his neck. “I had to know if it was real or pheromones … I didn’t do it to hurt you.”

“I know you didn’t, baby,” he murmurs shakily — and it’s true. Her scent is free of any trace of deception; there’s only grief and longing.

Rey kisses him again, gently sucking his lower lip and grazing it with her teeth, stirring him with every kind of need — and Ben winces as she presses something into the palm of his bandaged hand.

It’s soft. Fabric, maybe.

He works the thing around in his fingers, hissing at the pain that sparks through his nerves as he moves, and his neck prickles with pleasure as another soft kiss alights on the corner of his jaw.

“You’ll never lose me,” Rey murmurs throatily, nestling closer. “I promise.”

It’s her collar, the leather threatening to spill through his trembling fingers.

An electric jolt runs through Ben’s body, his spine arching as Rey’s lips lock against his mating gland.

The improvised restraints cut into him, keeping him tethered tight to the office chair, but he can hardly feel them. There’s only the searing bliss in his neck as she runs her tongue over his skin, lapping ravenously, and the rush of release.

_ FUCK! _

Hormones scream through his bloodstream as Rey clings to him, his mating gland crushed and broken between her teeth … and for the first time in Ben Solo’s life the Alpha within him opens its eyes, truly coming awake.


	12. No Consent for Villainfuckers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ben’s stare is so intense that she instinctively shrinks back even more.
> 
> He’s changing before her eyes, fighting his way out of some invisible, intangible cocoon. Awakening.
> 
> Her body is changing, too, like she’s on the verge of vibrating out of her skin. The Omega voice that’s always murmured at the back of her thoughts is clamoring louder, demanding to be heard.
> 
> _Alpha._
> 
> “ _ **Run**_ ,” he growls, forcing the Command through his clenched jaw as his black gaze smolders into her core.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **CW // DUBCON/NONCON AHEAD, reader beware!!**
> 
> Here we are, loves — a chapter I’m so excited to share with you!! Not quite the end of the journey for these two CNC-loving goobers, but the penultimate step 🖤
> 
> **TW FOR THIS CHAPTER // immobilization that is essentially drugging, mild references to blood**
> 
> My unending love and gratitude to [Ev3rMichelle](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ev3rMichelle) for being a splendiferous hooman and beta reading this (and every!) chapter!
> 
> If you like this story, stay tuned & subscribe to my user profile to get notified when my next A/B/O darkfic drops! (hint: it'll be soon!)
> 
> N.B.: The title for this chapter is inspired by Massachusetts laws that make it so that there’s no such thing as consensual striking, and Doms/tops are pretty much always skirting the line of being prosecuted for assault. (big yikes!)
> 
> Did you read the TWs? **Please read them again!!**
> 
> **✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* Now complete! *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧**  
>  \+ [The Fall of Skywalker](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27821176/chapters/68111416) | The ending to the Skywalker Saga that we collectively deserved — a tale of mythic return and the final stand of both Light and Dark.
> 
>   
> 

Ben’s body is warm beneath her, against her, his beguiling scent of sweet embers and Alpha musk coiling into Rey’s nose so powerfully that her eyes prick with tears of relief.

_ Ben. _

All the weeks away from him have been torture, desperately trying to clear her head even as the craving for him lingered, clinging to her like the memories of his embrace.

His lectures — agony.

His perfectly cordial, perfectly distant emails — wrenching.

It’s what she’d wanted, wasn’t it? Space to think, away from the heady daze of his presence.

But it hurt. Oh god, it  _ ached _ , like he was a part of her own heart that she’d torn out by the roots and she’d never be whole again.

Rose had noticed. Finn, too, once he resurfaced from his new boyfriend’s bed. She’s sensed if not seen the furtive glances her pals exchange when all three of them are hanging out, their brows creased and mouths tight with worry.

She’d blamed the lingering feelings on her heat, Ben’s rut. Anything to distract her from the truth.

Because the realization that she wanted Ben, needed him,  _ loved _ him, was simply too much to bear. Especially after she’d blown out on him like that.

He’s been so persistent before, impossible to evade — and deep down she’d started hoping for the day he’d show up on her doorstep again. When he’d email, call, text,  _ anything _ .

But he hadn’t.

Weeks stretched out into months, and still Rey waited for a sign that never came. That never  _ would _ come, she finally realized one snowy day, as the Boston cold bit down to her bones.

Boilers are the kind of thing Professor Solo can wreck, but not her trust. Of  _ course _ he wouldn’t have mated her that night, not after her strenuous objections. For all his twisted tastes, he’s a good man.

_ Daddy. _

The word has haunted her, a spectral whisper that slips through her mind when she least expects it. Chasing her,  _ hounding  _ her through untold dreams of being wrapped up in him, only to awaken cold and alone on her loveseat bed.

Maybe that’s what finally broke her stubborn, stupid resolve.

She came here tonight expecting to surrender or be sent away, to see him open the door and reveal some hot new girlfriend, one who was perfectly at ease in his posh-arse world — and the longer she waited in the alcove outside his apartment door, the louder anxiety howled through her mind.

Finally he appeared, reeling out of the elevator alone and body-slamming the wall, hunching against it for several nauseating moments as though the wind had been knocked out of him. She wanted to go to him, call out to him, apologize.

Then she saw the blood dripping from his fingers.

She hesitantly slipped closer as he blundered toward the door — and the shock in his dark chocolate eyes as he found her made her gut curl with entwined terror and hope.

“Rey?” he gasped, before unceremoniously puking up what smelled like a fifth of scotch and collapsing beside the pool of reeking sick.

Him being pissed out of his mind shouldn’t have brought her solace, but somehow it did. Just the way he’d uttered her name, his abyssal voice hoarse with emotion as those beautiful, sad eyes claimed her behind his silver-rimmed glasses … it had been enough to nudge her into motion.

He was heavy, but complied like a sleepwalker as she wrangled him into the apartment and got him cleaned up, dressing him in soft, clean clothes. He’d truly fallen asleep in the computer chair, head thrown back and snoring as she ransacked his medicine cabinet.

But only after Rey finished securing the wayward plastic arms to the chair and thence  _ him _ to it, too, had she turned her attention to his split knuckles. 

Lord knows how he came by the ugly injury, but she wasn’t ready to take chances. Not with a drunk Alpha. Not with this wound still so fresh, like he’d gotten into a fight in the luxe tower’s lobby.

Then she’d waited.

And now,  _ finally _ now she’s here in the only place she’s wanted to be through those hollow, lonely months. In Ben Solo’s lap, his mating gland mere millimeters from her parched lips.

Her neck feels naked, and an electric shiver shoots down her spine as she presses the leather collar into his hand.

God, she can’t believe he cares for her now,  _ still _ , through everything they’ve both endured. It’s more than she could’ve dared to dream of when she made her way here tonight, so nervous that bile stung the back of her throat with every breath.

Ben loves her.  _ Loves _ her.

His mating gland strains with need, pulsing as she prints a soft kiss on his skin just  _ there _ , lingering. It nudges between her lips like a ripening fruit — and she drags the flat of her tongue over the hot mound, urging a rush of honeyed nectar into her mouth.

The delicious elixir is exactly what she needs to slake her thirst.

_ You’ll never lose me, Daddy. Not after this. _

Rey tangles her fingers in Ben’s glossy raven mane, instinctively holding him still as the ember-hot orb of his mating gland rises to meet her — and the hinges of her jaw burn as she bears down.

Her mouth reverberates with a sudden pop, like a grape bursting between her teeth, but she only barely breaks the skin. The metallic tang of blood rolls over her tongue, quickly washed away by a flood of that mouthwatering liquor that is utterly  _ Ben _ .

It’s his essence. Distilled. Exquisite.

Somehow she knows that no one’s ever drunk from him like this, like his body is their chalice — and she sucks greedily, savoring the way his crushed gland moves between her teeth, against her tongue.

He’s surging beneath her like the sea, straining against the duct tape binding him to the computer chair so violently that the whole thing nearly tips over. 

Rey clings tighter, refusing to be shaken loose as he writhes.

The broad plain of his chest rumbles beneath her, a savanna shaken by thunder. Distantly, she realizes he’s saying something.

“Mm?” Rey murmurs, her lips buzzing against his shattered mating gland as she tongues another rush of nectar from the porous skin. She can’t bear to pull away from him. Not again.

The words are louder this time, rasping and ragged like they’re being forced through his throat: “I said  _ run _ .”

Icy fear lances through her gut.

“Rey…” Cords of muscle stand out on his arms like bas relief, and his thighs ripple beneath her as his body seizes, fighting the restraints. “God _ dammit _ , Omega,  **listen to me!** ”

Rivulets of mating liquor trace shiny paths along his neck, following the lines of his steely tendons as she breaks away from him in a wet pop, as startled by the Command as she is compelled by it.

Ben’s stare is so intense that she instinctively shrinks back even more.

He’s changing before her eyes, fighting his way out of some invisible, intangible cocoon. Awakening.

Her body is changing, too, like she’s on the verge of vibrating out of her skin. The Omega voice that’s always murmured at the back of her thoughts is clamoring louder, demanding to be heard.

_ Alpha _ .

“ **_Run_ ** ,” he growls, forcing the Command through his clenched jaw as his black gaze smolders into her core.

Rey scrambles out of his lap, her legs responding woodenly as she stumbles to her feet. His body is a seething ocean, slamming against the improvised tethers and taxing them to their utmost.

He’ll get loose. It’s only a matter of minutes, if that.

A cruel smile twists his full lips, almost a sneer as something  _ else _ claims him from within. “I’m going to get you, baby.”

Is it pleasure or terror that sparks through her nerves as she reels away from the rattling computer chair and its prisoner? Rey doesn’t know, but it’s the same delirious thrill she remembers from the playground as a child. Of being chased. Being  _ wanted _ by the predator who’s gaining.

Ben jerks against the duct tape behind her as she flees deeper into the apartment, fighting with the fury of a caged animal. His Command notwithstanding, there’s nowhere to run.

She has to hide.

His minimalist taste makes it damn near impossible to find a place, but her rattled mind finally settles on the far side of the bed. If she’s lucky, he’ll check the study and the bathroom before he makes his way that far.

_ Scent _ , her Omega instincts remind her.

Of course; it’s dark in the apartment, that’s how he’ll track her.

She pauses beside the study door long enough to press the inside of her wrist to her neck and then swipe it along the wall just inside the room. The diversion won’t buy her much time, but every moment is precious. 

Rey sprints into the bathroom connected to the bedroom, repeating the process at the far wall. If she can draw him this far into the room, beyond the shower, she might be able to scoot past him and beat him to the front door.

The urge to escape is instinctive.

So is the delicious knowledge that she’ll inevitably fail.

Rey’s just thrown herself down between the bed and the wall as the rending erupts from the front room, the floor shuddering faintly in time with the awful sound as though the fabric of spacetime is tearing itself open.

Her heart thuds insistently at its bone prison, calling to the Alpha who’s already padding through the apartment. The floorboards squeak with his weight, and Rey hitches the arm of her hoodie up over her palm, pressing it to her mouth to stifle her panting breaths even as she hears him pause at the study door.

But he only stops a few moments before his movement draw nearer.

Her pussy flutters, tremulous with need as her thighs press together.

_ No, no, no… _

Even without seeing him, she can hear the sudden stillness as his immense body fills the doorway. She’s keeping still as a spooked beast, but her pulse sings through her veins like a thousand rivers, threatening to give her away.

His shadow falls over the wall beside her, looming so large that for one endless moment she’s sure he’s found her.

Her heart stops, and her stomach’s in free-fall as she hears him draw a deep, slow breath through his nose, scenting the air.

Then his shadow glides to the side, melding with the rest of the darkness at the side of the room. She catches a glimpse of his vast shoulders and the back of his head as he prowls into the bathroom, and then he’s gone.

Her muscles tense painfully as she gathers herself — but her inner Omega freezes her flesh to marble.  _ Wait _ .

Moments drift past, and she stays coiled. Even as the sounds of his skin-soft footsteps against the tiled floor grow distant.

_ Now _ .

The word’s barely struck her mind before she’s up on her feet, darting across the room like a thrown blade.

“ _ REY! _ ”

His roar splits the silence — and she skitters around the corner into the hallway, Ben crashing after her.

He’s a predator unleashed, not even bothering to Command her. Preferring to take her like  _ this _ . Like they’re mindless animals.

Rey slams into the far wall as she rounds the next bend in the corridor, the impact hard enough to rattle her teeth. The front door is there ahead of her, past the shattered wreckage of the computer chair and the shredded coils of duct tape.

She’s nearly there, nearly free—

Then his breath heats the nape of her neck.

Rey cries out, but it’s too late. His ironbound arms are suddenly tight about her waist, and he tackles her to the floor.

The world spins drunkenly, and somehow she lands on top of Ben, sprawled over his massive chest as he holds her fast. He’s up on his feet again in the next instant, dragging Rey along with him — and she flails blindly as he heaves her over his shoulder, stalking back toward the bedroom.

“Thought you could get away from me?” His arm curls around her thighs bruise-tight, and before she can react he lands a stinging spank on one arse cheek.

Rey howls wordlessly, her gut tensing against the hard line of his shoulder as her body jerks in response to his harsh touch. His huge hand sears her skin even through her jeans — and she spasms again, both seething and melting like butter as he lands a matching strike on her other cheek.

Her cunt shivers at the symphony of exquisite agony that ripples through her body, Ben’s callous treatment awakening strange and feral urges that’ve been slumbering in her blood. Instincts she somehow knows he’s feeling, too. A ritual older than civilization itself.

“ _ Quiet _ ,” Ben rasps, each thudding step making her jostle queasily. Then the darkness of the bedroom swallows them, the amber rectangle of the open doorway falling away behind them like Hades’ threshold.

The pressure around her thighs worsens, and Ben’s apartment twists again, breath gushing from her lungs as the hulking Alpha throws her down on his bed.

Rey tries to sit up but he’s already on her, kneeling over her hips so that she’s trapped down between his thighs. His fingers close on her jaw like steel, forcing her head back against the quilt.

His scent perfumes the air, intoxicating her with every ragged breath — but his eyes…  _ Fuck, _ his eyes are dark with lust, scorching embers as he stares down at her.

Tendons pop in the hollows of his temples as he grits his jaw, raven hair haloing his face like tendrils of black silk. His mating gland is still blotched, the broken skin weeping rivulets of his nectar; the clear fluid is stained pink with his blood, but the swelling’s gone, his elixir and all the hormones it bears now flowing through his body.

Unleashed by her bite.

Rey shivers, lightning bolts of terror and delight crackling through her nerves as she finds the marks of her teeth, her bite, now indelibly printed on his skin.

My _ Alpha. Mine. _

Any moment now he’ll do the same to her.

He turns her jaw to one side, studying her — and she whimpers as he then tilts her chin up, guiding her head back to bare her own mating gland.

Her heartbeat reverberates through her like a battledrum.

“Pretty little babydoll,” Ben croons, his pillowy lips curving in a grin. His thumb slides over her swollen skin and she gasps as her pussy cramps in instinctive response, devastatingly empty. “You belong to me, Rey.”

Her breaths shallow as she stares up at him, wide-eyed and trembling. “Do it.”

“Are you—” His fingers flex around the column of her throat as he glowers down at her. “—telling  _ me _ what to do, Omega?”

He leans closer, and Rey moans with fear as his breaths heat her flesh where she’s damp with need, begging to be bitten.

“N-No … I just w-want it over with,” she pleads, the words ragged, choked through his hand.

Her toes scrunch in her boots as he licks her gland, his tongue scrawling a wet ribbon across her pebbled skin — but then he pulls away to stare at her again, his black eyes intense as sparks.

“No.”

The word hits Rey like a gut punch — and she groans with the  _ wrongness _ of it.

How can he not want her?

“ _ Over with _ …” Ben echoes softly, twitching his head in disbelief. “No, sweetheart. You’re going to enjoy this. You’re going to fucking  _ love _ it.”

Then his gaze hardens, his resolve crystallizing.

“ **Lie still** .”

Her muscles instantly go slack.

The pressure against her jaw vanishes as Ben releases her, cradling her body and settling her higher on the simple black quilt, laying her head against his musk-scented pillows.

“I’m tired of chasing you.” Rey’s arms twitch mutinously as the Alpha works her out of her hoodie, tossing the garment aside without a backward glance. His gaze roves over her limp body, lingering where the fabric of her t-shirt clings to her breasts. “You’re mine. You  _ should _ be mine.”

Her core burns with longing at his words.

Ben gently catches one of her wrists, lifting it to his face and nuzzling into her nerveless palm. His stubble tickles her skin, but she can’t move, not even to cup his cheek.

He takes his time, pressing her fingers to her cheek with his other hand as though savoring her touch, his own body burning brushfire-hot.

“You’re a fighter, Rey,” he murmurs into her palm, his lips brushing her skin and making her ache for  _ more _ . The need is so overwhelming that it even breaks through the Command, her spine arching faintly.

To her surprise, her rebellion only makes him grin.

“That’s my girl.”

It happens so fast. One moment his lips are there beside her wrist — then his teeth are buried in her skin, finding the secondary gland hidden between her tendons and breaking it open.

“ _ No _ ,” Rey howls, the word coming more  _ through _ her than from her. 

She can’t even understand why she’s uttered it until the glorious golden sensation spreads up her arm and down to her fingertips, weakening her wherever it touches.

It’s different from an Alpha Command. Stronger. Alive, almost.

Ben gently lays her arm on the bed and settles himself over her hips, stilling the faint twitching as she fights his control. The fitted sweatpants are doing nothing to conceal his monstrous erection — and a growl rumbles through his chest as he drags his rock-hard length against her mound like she’s a cello and he’s the bow, urging guttural, unrecognizable cries from her lips.

He’s a monster.  _ Her _ monster.

Her Daddy.

Ben’s lips graze her other wrist, and she mewls at the pop of pain as he bites her other wrist gland, unleashing a second tidal wave of immobilizing bliss.

“We could’ve mated properly. Civilly.” He shuffles backward on his knees, pausing at her belly long enough to print a soft, wet kiss in the sliver of bare skin between the hem of her t-shirt and her jeans. His words tickle her stomach. “But you’re like me, Rey. You like it rough. Dark. God, I fucking  _ love _ how dark you are.”

Rey clamps her lips into a bloodless line, choking back more whimpers as he slinks down to the end of the bed. She’s still compelled by Ben’s Command, but her feet twitch in defiance as the huge man strips off her boots and socks.

He catches one of her denim-swathed calves, steadying her as he nuzzles into her foot. Her soles feel like they’re on fire; his touch is soothing, her inner Omega purring with relief.

“I can do rough, babygirl,” the Alpha hums into her skin. “You know how much it turns me on when you fight me.”

“Ben,” she chokes out as his caresses give way to wet lapping. “Daddy — please— why can’t I move?”

“Because your body’s betraying you. I know how to unlock you like a key.”

Somehow he finds a spot in the arch of her foot that’s the source of the inferno, another ancillary gland that’s now swollen like a marble — and his teeth clamp down, bursting the gland and making her flesh tingle with the enchanting weakness.

Rey pants, a double helix of terror and bliss entwining through her every cell.

Her Omega knows what this is. An age-old dance. 

A way of claiming the reluctant.

Running from Ben like that, after she’d unleashed the storm of mating hormones through his veins, had triggered something in him. In them both.

A few long moments later he completes the ritual, biting the gland in the arch of her other foot, kissing the broken skin and tenderly laying her leg back on the bed. But the black fire in his eyes is anything but gentle as he looms over her once more, dashing the back of his arm against his face to wipe away her crimson-streaked nectar.

The golden waves rolling through her limbs meet in her core — and though she can still draw trembling breaths, her body is overcome by a swooning half-stupor.

It’s ancient, what he’s doing. Taboo.

And it’s everything Rey could want.

The idea of being claimed in a candlelit room laced with rose petals and soft music has always made her gut twist; it’s one of the litany of reasons she’d maintained for being dead set against the concept of mating.

But life without Ben is bleak. It’s nothing, now that she knows he’s out there in the world. That he exists.

That he loves her.

There’s a haughty tilt to Ben’s chin as he slips off the bed, pacing around the corner of the frame to overshadow her. The curtains glow silver in the moonlight — and squint as she might, she can only see the ink-dark blotch of his silhouette as he looms over her.

“Jesus,” he murmurs.

He’s huge. Motionless, but not hunting her now. Merely enjoying the view as she lies here before him, helpless.

He strips silently, tugging the t-shirt off in one fluid movement and shoving the waistband of his sweatpants down to his calves, kicking them aside. He’d been near-senseless as she’d put him in those things a few hours ago; mercifully she hadn’t needed to fuss with his boxer briefs, but even those are gone now, too, as the bed sags with his weight.

Rey’s skin warms as he parts her thighs, bending her limp, splayed legs and kneeling between them. He radiates heat in the darkness, a midnight sun, and his cock drags against her through her jeans, rock-hard and unforgiving.

_ Fuck _ , it feels so good … but she can’t even rock her hips to meet him.

She’s a prisoner in her own body. Utterly at the Alpha’s mercy.

Only his growling breaths break the hush as he cups her tits through her shirt, exploring the pert mounds like he’s never touched her here before. His thumbs find her nipples and draw circles on her sensitive skin until the peaks stiffen into her thin bra.

“You can’t stop me,” he mutters, and Rey isn’t sure if he’s talking to her or himself. “Nothing can stop this now.”

He shoves the hem of her t-shirt up to her collarbone, tucking it under her chin before his fingers skate back down to her breasts.

His full lips part, and he stares down at her, entranced as he gropes her more forcefully. He yanks the fabric of her bra, tugging until it tears and he can urge the delicate swells up to spill out of their cups.

Rey cries out with pleasure as he bends forward, his erect phallus digging into the slick-soaked crotch of her jeans as he nuzzles her breasts. He catches each in turn, rubbing his broken mating gland over the peaks, groaning with satisfaction as his hips nudge into her harder.

“These tits are mine,” he rumbles, sucking her nipples and teasing them with his teeth. His scent is so strong, like aged honey and sweet, charred wood — and her skin responds to his essence, her skin tingling wherever his gland touches. “So perfect … and all mine.”

Ben carefully strips her out of the t-shirt and crumpled bra, sighing with satisfaction as she’s finally naked from the waist up. 

“You’re such a good little slut.” His huge hands find the waistband of her jeans, and he grunts softly as he thumbs them open and drags the zipper down. “Look at you flooding your panties for me.”

Rey squeaks as he shoves one too-large hand down the front of her panties, easily pushing beneath the drenched cotton.

“Mm,” he groans as his fingertips find her slit. Her body isn’t offering any resistance, and he hooks two long, thick fingers into her, caressing her inner walls in a way that makes her twitch and groan. “I’m going to rape my cum into you right here, Omega. Just like this.” Ben pushes deeper, thrusting in slow, rhythmic pulses — and he gazes down at her, his dark eyes both here and a million miles away. “And then I’m going to bite you.  _ Only _ then, once I’ve already wrecked you for any other Alpha.”

He leans forward, not breaking the tempo of his dreamy intrusions in her pussy as he braces himself on his forearm.

“When I’m done with you, princess, you’re going to beg me for more.” His thumb skims her cheek, and he presses a feather-soft kiss to her lips. It feels perverse, like more of a transgression even than his fingers knuckle-deep in her cunt. “You’ll be mine forever.”

Rey heaves a sobbing breath as Ben withdraws, pulling out of her with a wet sound that makes her shiver.

_ Mine _ .

It’s such a beautiful word.

He yanks her jeans and knickers off, grimacing as the fabric bunches around her ankles — and then the garments are gone and she’s naked on his bed, her sex pulsing with ravenous need even as the rest of her body lies limp.

Ben kneels at the end of the bed and runs his hands up the inside of Rey’s thighs, tracing his way up to her vulnerable folds and parting her with his thumbs. He inhales deeply, like he’s reveling in the scent of her sex before sitting back on his heels to smear his gland against her inner thighs.

He’s claiming her. Awakening her body for what’s to come.

His cock twitches before him like a spear as he leans back on his heels — the roused organ still somehow alien, like it’s not fully a part of him. His tip shines with precum; even as Rey watches, a fat bead drips from his slit, drawing a glistening, unbroken thread down to the quilt.

Ben’s Adam’s apple bobs as he swallows hard, staring at Rey’s neck. He’s close to drooling, she can see it from the way his lower lip quivers as he drags in a sharp breath.

His weight crushes her into the mattress as he settles himself on top of her, holding himself up on his elbows and slipping his hands under her shoulders to cradle her head. His shaft nestles between her slickened folds, fitting along the line of her crease like he’s always belonged there — and he rumbles with pleasure as he works himself against her, drenching his sex in her essence.

The huge Alpha taunts her like that for a while, and Rey whimpers with longing as he finally lowers his head to her throat.

_ Put me out of my misery, Daddy, pleasepleaseplease _ —

“I told you, baby,” he murmurs, his breath skirling across her mating gland, teasing the wet skin as he glides along the outside of her pussy, his ridges grinding against her clit like ecstatic flint. “Not yet.”

She whines as he finds her, notching his cockhead into her wet hole — and he grunts as he slams into her, claiming her in one brutal snap of his hips.

Rey can’t move. Can’t breathe. 

She’s so perfectly full of him, his girth straining in her pussy like living stone, 

She’s almost completely  _ his _ .

Ben’s fingers knot in her hair as he starts to move inside her, slick gushing out around the root of his cock with every merciless thrust. He spares one hand to bend her leg up beside his hips, then catches her breast, pushing it higher to meet his hungry lips.

“Such a good girl,” the Alpha mumbles around the hard knot of her nipple. A snarl shudders through his body, and he lays a trail of wet kisses up to her neck, lapping at her gland again as he pumps inside her. “You’re being so good for me … Daddy’s precious girl…”

_ Precious _ .

The word finds her in the dreamy haze he’s fucking her into, his length burning in her belly as he strains against her cervix, bottoming out so beautifully that she moans.

“I’ve been waiting for this, Rey.” Ben’s voice is thick with emotion, and the soaking pressure against her mating gland eases for a few heartbeats as he teases her earlobe. “I should’ve just ripped that collar off your neck and claimed you the first night we fucked … I wanted to, but I wanted you to  _ want _ me. To  _ choose _ me.”

“I  _ did _ choose you, Daddy.” The words are soft, hoarse, forced through the sudden cramp in her throat. “I choose you now. I’ll choose you always.”

“Omega…” Ben croons. “ _ My  _ Omega, my pretty Reyling…”

_ Omega. _ She never thought that word could sound so lovely.

His tongue nudges her swollen mating gland in time to his rough incursions in her belly, and she’s pinned between the twin sources of pleasure, drifting in bliss as he ravages her. She doesn’t even have to chase the euphoria; now it’s chasing  _ her _ , thrilling through her core as the towering Alpha defiles her.

His fingers fist in her hair and he pounds into her faster, his cadence quickening with glorious desperation. 

“Ben,” Rey moans as his lips meet her skin, his teeth settling against the distended swell of her virgin gland. Her heart is strangled with fear as oblivion’s edge surges higher, threatening to send her spiraling into mindlessness. “ _ Ben _ — _! _ ”

There’s no pain, just a distant popping in her neck — then a shockwave of rapture blazes through every fiber of her being.

_ DADDY! _

It’s as though a thousand doors open in her mind at once, and she’s lost, drifting in pure emotion.

But she’s not alone. Somehow he’s there, too. Finding her. Cradling her. Holding her close.

_ Yes _ , her Omega whispers, the ancient voice warm. Pleased that Rey finally understands.

Tears pour from the corners of her eyes — and she’s clinging to him before she even realizes that the orgasm has freed her bliss-frozen limbs, that she can move again.

His knot feels huge, locking them together so tightly that the rushes of his spend are trapped inside her, heat spurting into her womb and filling her.

“Rey…”

Tears trace jagged paths down Ben’s face, too — and even without words, she knows it’s for the same reason.

Not sorrow, for once. Not grief.

Joy.

She cups his jaw, wiping a tear away with the sweep of her thumb. Her hand is so small beside his angular face, but he leans into her touch, letting her draw his mouth down to hers.

Her cunt clenches spasmodically, and she whimpers into Ben’s plush lips as he keeps urging himself into her, fucking his cum deeper. 

His tongue parts her lips, claiming her mouth and probing her, growling into her throat. He tastes like sweetness and desire. Like fire.

Like home.

_ More, Daddy … please… _

Ben rolls her on top of his immense body — and Rey’s own weight forces his knotted cock deeper, impaling her.

She rocks against him, her skin flushing as he groans with pleasure, wringing more droplets of fire from him with every movement — and she shrieks, her muscles going whip-taut as he drags her higher, sitting upright so that she straddles his lap.

“Move for me, sweetheart,” Ben rasps into her lips, his arm tightening about her waist as he gathers her closer.

She rides him. Gently at first, but then harder, faster, tugging at his knot with her clenched-tight cunt as she rises and splintering herself on him as she falls.

“Ben…” She licks his broken gland, drawing a hiss from between his gritted teeth as she fucks him. They’re working up to another orgasm; she can feel it coming like sunrise. Her arms have already found their way around his shoulders, and she leans into him, nestling her head in the hollow beneath his chin. “Ben … I love you.”

“I know, baby,” he murmurs, cradling her fiercely. “I love you, too. It’ll be you and me — always.”

Rey cries out as the next brink finds her, clinging to her Alpha, her Daddy, as he ruts into her harder, splitting her to the bright spot in her core as everything else falls away.

* * *

Heat was nothing compared to this.

Hours slip away as they’re locked together, fucking with wordless violence. The need is so intense that Rey screams like a cat as she comes, digging her fingernails into him hard enough to draw blood.

Ben rapes her all the harder for her resistance, forcing her to submit to his will until she’s gasping and purring against him again, boneless with pleasure.

His fingers manacle her wrists as he holds her down — and later, as they break apart long enough for a quick shower, Rey traces the lines of the darkening bruises with her fingertips, grinning at the hormone-soaked memories.

_ Alpha. _

The word comes to her mind easily now, finding its way to the front of her thoughts every time her gaze lights on Ben’s solemn face. 

He sees her admiring the darkling marks, and his lips quirk in a knowing smile. 

Rey barely manages to twist the water off before he scoops her up in his arms, his pendulous member rousing again. He carries her the few long strides back to the bed, — and by the time she’s imprisoned beneath his dripping body he’s already penetrating her, groaning with relief as he thrusts deep.

Other times Ben’s tired enough — or feigning it, at least — for Rey to roll on top of him, riding him to her finish as he kneads her breasts, her arse, fisting her hair and claiming her lips in vicious kisses.

But she likes it best when they’re pretending he’s forcing her, ravishing her, destroying her. 

And he knows. He loves it, too.

“Surrender to me,” Ben growls, sinking his teeth into the curve of her neck as he bends her over the side of the bed, taking her from behind. He reaches around her thighs, grinding his fingers against her clit as he transfixes her. “What do you have to say?”

“Harder, Daddy,” she begs, aching with need.

Ben’s body shakes with quiet laughter — and he strains into her, his thrusts becoming devastating again as he indulges her like he always does.

* * *

He’s just mounted her on his cock, pinning her against the wall with his hips and rumbling with pleasure as their bodies interlock, when there’s a dull knocking at the front of the apartment.

Rey’s body instinctively tenses at the sound — and she groans with inescapable bliss as Ben twitches inside her.

The Alpha knits his brow, but his hands don’t move from the twin globes of her arse. He withdraws a few inches, but it’s only to thrust punishingly deep, covering her mouth with his to stifle her throaty cry.

More knocking from the front room makes Rey’s body go bowstring-taut.

Ben only fucks her harder, snapping his hips and slamming deep in her pussy. He claims his mouth with her tongue, refusing to let her go — even as the rapping reaches their ears for the third time.

_ Alpha, someone’s _ —

The splintering crash makes them both jump.

“What the hell—” Ben huffs angrily, surrendering Rey’s lips but not her cunt as he turns to glare at the bedroom door.

“Boston Police Department!” an unfamiliar voice calls from the front room. “Mr. Solo, are you alright?”

“What the  _ fuck? _ ” Rey gasps.

Ben pulls out of her so abruptly that she yelps, but he sets her down on the floor gently enough. His lips graze her forehead in a kiss — and then, to Rey’s astonishment, he stalks out the bedroom door into the hallway completely naked.

There isn’t even time to find her clothes; by the time she’s collected herself from gaping after him in abject shock, he’s gone.

She hurries to the door, peeking out into the hall just in time to catch his backward glance, and the curves of his toned arse.

_ Stay here _ .

He doesn’t speak the words, but she knows that’s what he’s thinking as he passes beyond the line of the wall and out of sight again.

Commotion swells as Ben emerges into the front room and lights flicker on. Clearly his choice of attire has made an impression on the intruders.

Rey creeps closer, venturing into the short length of hall and pressing herself to the far wall to listen to the overlapping voices — some of them familiar, others decidedly not.

“—that thing away,” a man is saying, and she can full well assume what he’s referring to.

“You’re the one breaking down my door in the middle of a pandemic,” Ben snaps. “Covering my dick seems rather insufficient at this point.”

“The, uh, Chancellor here asked us to make a welfare check, said you’d missed a day’s-worth of classes.”

“My phone’s been turned off. Personal business.”

“What the hell’ve you been doing in here, Solo?” a second man demands, sounding so much like Finn that it makes her start.

“You got company tonight, sir?” the first man asks.

Rey’s blood freezes in her veins.

“I fail to see how that’s any business of yours.”

“Well, normally it might not be, but  _ this _ —” A leaden silence, and Rey’s stomach plummets as she realizes the speaker must be indicating the broken chair. “—this raises a couple’a questions.”

“What the hell’s going on?” It’s the angrier man again. “Where’s Rey? Her scent’s all over this place!”

It  _ is  _ Finn — and perhaps it’s only because Rey knows Ben’s already out there completely starkers, but she stomps around the corner to confront the interlopers at his side.

Ben’s eyes darken as she emerges from the corridor’s darkness, and he moves to stand before her, defensively curling an arm in front of her. Her instinct was right, Finn’s here, wide-eyed over his mask and not quite sure to look; Chancellor Palpatine is standing near the open door, too, his gaze sharp with suspicion.

The police officer seems the least flummoxed by the awkward tableau — and Rey squints at him. His brown eyes and tousled, salt-streaked hair are familiar, too. “ _ Poe? _ ”

Finn’s boyfriend’s eyes crinkle like he’s smiling under his mask. “Hey, Rey! Guess that clears a few things up.” He lifts his finger to his neck, tapping lightly. “Ya got a li’l something there, kid.”

Her mating bite from Ben.

_ Fuck. _

Rey turns aside, tucking her chin, but it’s too late; Palpatine’s beady eyes have found the mark.

Her mouth goes dry. Has the old man noticed the telltale bruises on her wrists and ankles, too?

There’s a reason the ritual is nameless, abandoned to antiquity. It doesn’t belong in second-millennial Boston, a place with rules, laws, consent. Police won’t understand what exists between Rey and Ben, that it existed even before they bound themselves to each other. That she  _ wanted _ this.

Others have surely gone to prison for less.

God, this whole thing might be funny if Palpatine wasn’t here, his foul, sickly-sweet odor poisoning the very air. Shit, if she’d only stayed in the bedroom—

But she couldn’t let Ben be out here alone. Not with them thinking he'd kidnapped her — or worse.

_ Protect Alpha. He needs us. _

Finn makes eye contact long enough to shoot her a chagrined look. “I’ll, uh … text Rose, let her know you’re okay.”

“Thanks,” she manages.

Ben’s fingertips graze her side — and Rey finally notices that although Poe, his masked patrol partner, and one of Chandrila Tower’s lobby attendants have wandered back to survey the damage to the door, her Alpha and the sour-faced old chancellor are still locked in a silent staring contest.

“Officer Dameron,” Palpatine begins silkily. "If I might—" 

Though Rey hears the low growl, it takes Palpatine’s words faltering, his gaze flickering, finding  _ her _ , to realize that it’s coming from her own throat.

The hairs on the nape of her neck stand on end as she glowers at the sallow old man.

_ Try it, you withered corpse. I will destroy you if you touch him. _

“You were saying something, Chancellor?” Ben asks, his voice deceptively mild as Poe glances back at the three of them in confusion.

“We’ll talk tomorrow, Solo,” the old man snaps, his voice sharp like broken glass. Then he sweeps out of the apartment, vanishing in a snap of his dark peacoat.

The front door lurches away from the front wall — and the huge man beside her groans as he sees the hole the doorknob punched into the wall from being flung open too exuberantly.

“I’m so sorry, Mr, Solo,” the building attendant blithers. The man's pale cheeks glow beet-red with mortification, and he shrinks back into the open doorway as though scared Ben’s about to attack him. Poor thing was surely only trying to do his job. “We  _ did _ try to contact you—”

“The, uh, department’ll reimburse you for that,” Poe interrupts sheepishly, nodding to the hole in the wall.

“Does my door still work?” Ben asks, his syllables clipped with annoyance.

The shorter Alpha tests the knob as his partner retreats to the safety of the corridor with the building’s attendant. “Yeah, seems to.”

“Good. Get out.”

“Sorry for the mix-up,” Poe tosses back over his shoulder. “You kids have a great night — and turn on your damn phones!”

Then they’re all gone in the click of the front door.

Ben’s coiled posture eases, and he strides to the door, locking it behind the parade of uninvited guests.

Rey’s knees tremble as the reality of what just happened starts to sink in — but as Ben turns back to her, everything goes out of her mind as she sees he’s still rock-hard.

It’s from the other men Alphas encroaching on his territory. His home. It must be; if  _ she’s _ this put off by the potency of the unfamiliar scents, he must be positively rankled, ready to stake his claim on her flesh.

“Ben, I’m so sorry,” she murmurs as he moves toward her, guilty with desire. “Tell me what you need right now.”

He scoops her up without breaking his stride, hitching her against his chest as he carries her back toward the bedroom — and as their gazes lock, his dark eyes are shadowed with desire and love. 

Love more than anything.

“I have everything I need right here,” Ben tells her softly — and then his plush, perfect lips are claiming hers again, everything else in the world forgotten as he carries her back to bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> STAY TUNED FOR THE EPILOGUE!!!
> 
> 🖤🖤🖤


	13. Epilogue: If My Heart Was a House (You'd Be Home)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Never has someone wanted him, belonged to him so completely. Even in sleep she clings to him, murmuring with unconscious pleasure as he threads an arm about her waist, drawing her closer.
> 
> Rey. _His_ Rey, her perfect mating gland scarred pink from his bite.
> 
> He’s never felt so unworthy of something, someone, and so determined to prove himself wrong.
> 
> **The final chapter!**
> 
> 🖤

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **CW // pursuit, takedown, & capture; chains & collars**
> 
> _Did you read the TWs? **Please read them again!!**_
> 
> This has been an incredible journey, lovelies. Six months ago I published an A/B/O one-shot — and then came the explosion of love that made me decide to keep going with this story.
> 
> Even then I didn’t expect it to become a novel, and I certainly didn’t imagine that when the time came, I’d be so reluctant to let them go.
> 
> Yet here we are. The end of the journey with this Rey and her beloved Professor Ben — at least for now.
> 
> My endless love and gratitude to [Ev3rMichelle](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ev3rMichelle) for holding my hand through all of this, being an epic beta/writer in her own right, defeater of the brain weasels, and the most wonderful friend anyone could ask for 💞
> 
> Happy International Fanworks Day, my dears! Take my hand one more time, and away we go 🖤
> 
> ♥ ♡ ♥ _**More notes at the end!**_ ♥ ♡ ♥
> 
>   
> 
> 
> 🖤

She’s snuggled into Ben’s arms when he wakes, her tiny body burning like a furnace, shaking with snores loud enough to shame a chainsaw orchestra.

Every morning the same damn thing, and every morning it still makes him press his lips together to hold back a laugh. She’s sprawled into him, over him, one leg tossed over his thigh even as her face is shoved into the crook of his neck.

Usually, like today, her arm is wrapped around his waist, too.

Never has someone wanted him,  _ belonged _ to him so completely. Even in sleep she clings to him, murmuring with unconscious pleasure as he threads an arm about her waist, drawing her closer.

Rey.  _ His _ Rey, her perfect mating gland scarred pink from his bite.

He’s never felt so unworthy of something, some _ one _ , and so determined to prove himself wrong.

This place is board and brick and stone, but it’s  _ her _ that’s made it home.

His own gland throbs with awareness, hungering for her. No matter how long he lives, he will never get enough of this woman. He’ll never stop needing to keep her safe.

There’s an extra note of yearning in her scent, something that stirs him deep in his gut and makes his cock harden. It’s been happening more frequently over the last few days; her heat’s rising again, stealing through her body and flushing his own with desire.

His rut’s coming — maybe even as soon as tonight. God, they just need to make it through the damn party, and then—

_ Then _ —

Rey’s fingers tighten on his flesh as he rolls the half-asleep girl onto her back and eases himself between her thighs. Whether from biology or beautiful dreams she’s already seeping with slick, and she moans as he fits himself to her pussy and slowly thrusts into her.

Her eyes flutter opens at the familiar stretch, her tight walls giving way to him reluctantly even though they’ve done this so many times. Her chocolate eyes are dazed with sleepy pleasure, but they hold real warning.

“Don’t knot me, Daddy,” she begs breathlessly — and he groans with lust, unconsciously twitching his hips and burying himself in her fully. “Please … just wait until tonight, it’s not that long…”

“It’s a goddamn eternity, beautiful,” he growls. He can do it, of course — he has self-control enough for that — but his inner Alpha is frustrated at not being able to take her fully.

“Okay true,” she admits, “but  _ after _ eternity you can utterly destroy me.”

Ben brushes his lips against hers, and her fingers twist into his hair, cradling his head as she rocks her hips to meet him. Her mouth opens to him as readily as her legs, and he savors the sweet taste of her tongue, the way her whimpers make his lips buzz with need.

He pumps into her harder, every movement demanding her submission. And she offers it so readily, succumbing to him in the arch of her spine, the way she hooks her legs around his.

“Tell me.”

The words are hoarse with command; he has to get off soon or he’ll work up a knot whether he wants to or not. Her tiny body is just too exquisite, the forbidden fruit that’s now only his to taste.

And how he  _ does _ love to taste her, especially like this.

Rey whines as he slams deep, his whole cock alight with wanting. Alpha though he is, he’s at her mercy. Only she can wring the orgasm out of him now.

“Tell me what I need to hear, princess,” he growls as he ravages her harder — and even though he’s on top of her, pinning her to the bed, it sounds suspiciously like begging.

* * *

Rey knows what Ben wants as he strives into her — and she clenches around him, delighted at the way the movement draws a hiss from between his gritted teeth.

“I love you, Daddy,” she mumbles into his full lips.

His intrusions become harsher, nudging the brilliance gathering in her core, urging her closer to the brink. His muscle-corded arms slip beneath her, trapping her to him as he fucks her.

Rey’s lost in beauty. There’s such strength in submission, she sees it now. She feels it as her body yields to his, as his breaths rasp into her skin, ragged as he quickens.

“Again,” he demands.

She caresses his stubbled jaw, her clit already throbbing as pleasure cracks her open. “Daddy, I love you … I need you … please—”

His mouth slants over hers again, hard and unforgiving, and heat pools in her belly as the orgasm claims her. He’s thick, throbbing, unrelenting inside her, straining her to her limit — and she murmurs into his lips as he spends, his warmth spurting into her in seething waves.

But it’s not to last. He pulls out of her with a grunt, spilling his last onto the sheets.

“Sorry,” he rumbles, catching himself in his hand and maneuvering away from her already-wrecked thighs. He smiles shamefacedly, like there’s something to be embarrassed about. “I almost—”

“It’s fine,” Rey reassures him quickly.

She pulls his angular face back to hers, his hair soft as black silk — and their kiss is so ravenous that it coaxes another spurt from him.

“Shit.”

She giggles as he grabs a corner of the sheet and wipes the creamy puddle from her leg. Threads of iridescence are woven through the spatters of cum, and her stomach twists with excitement. “Are you going into rut?”

He arches an eyebrow, regarding her knowingly. “What do  _ you _ think, kitten?”

_ Fuck… _

“I’ll … um … go hop in the shower,” she mutters, swallowing back her delight. That strange, ancient part of her is rousing again, sending ripples of goosebumps as she thinks of this huge, beautiful man taking her unreservedly.

“You do that,” the dark man growls with a wicked grin — and it’s like the soles of her feet are fizzing as she skips away, abruptly awake.

He joins her in the shower, his heavy tread making the house’s timeworn floorboards creak. He glares sourly at the low ceiling as he steps inside and yanks the shower curtain shut with a snap. “I miss my old shower.”

“Yes, but your old shower was exactly that —  _ yours _ ,” she reminds him, running her hands over his broad chest as tepid water trickles down her arms. “This is  _ ours _ .”

“It’s  _ my _ name on the deed, and  _ I _ say we could’ve gotten something nicer.”

“Aww, my poor Alpha,” Rey snorts with laughter as he pouts. After the night the police invaded his apartment, he’d wanted his own place — and she wasn’t ready to be legally shackled anywhere. The three-bedroom house was a good middle ground, a place their worlds could overlap.

Besides, she pays rent to Ben in other ways. Or so they both like to pretend.

She cups his face, letting her thumb sweep over his flushed mating gland. “We’re bound together in other ways than a stupid shower.”

For so long she’d been afraid of this, but gazing into Ben’s depthless eyes, Rey knows she’s home.

“Turn around,” he mutters, hands capturing her hips, helping her turn in the narrow tub without slipping.

Her thighs tremble as he kneels behind her, one hand cupping her arse cheek and spreading her open with a wet pop. His stubble scrapes the inside of her leg, and she bends over obediently as he nuzzles into her pussy from behind.

Distantly she’s aware of the huge man settled back on his heels, jerking himself between her spread legs — but all she can feel is the velvet-soft transgression of his tongue as he laps into her and the rasp of his unshaven jaw against her folds.

He comes with a guttural groan, and that’s what sends her over the edge for the second time this morning, fingers skidding on the shower walls.

Rey’s cunt shudders, the bliss verging on discomfort from how hollow she is, how empty without him filling her.

She sighs, her heartbeat thudding against her ribs with nauseating force as he pulls away.

Ben’s right. It’s going to be a very,  _ very _ long day.

* * *

The blocker boosters should buy them a few hours, but Ben still watches Rey like a hawk, his gut clenching every time her cheeks pink with excitement.

She’s practically incandescent by the time Armie arrives bearing a carrier that shudders with baleful mews.

Rey has it out of the ginger man’s hands almost as soon as he’s through the front door, sparing his friend a dazzling grin that’s usually reserved for Ben alone. He can’t even be jealous, though; it’s not every day someone shows up at their front door bearing a pair of kittens.

“There you are, darlings,” Rey coos, holding the carrier before her like it’s a bomb about to go off as she shuffles to a nearby bedroom, keeping it steady. “Come on, I’ve got such a lovely place prepared for you…”

He gulps back a groan of wanting at hearing her voice go all tremulous like that.  _ Fuck _ .

“You prepared like I told you?” Hux asks sternly. “Water, food, litter—?”

“—toys, beds, scratching posts, cardboard boxes covered in fleece blankets to make nice little hidey-holes — yeah,” Ben chuckles as Hux’s hard expression eases. “I think we’re covered.”

“And they won’t be disturbed tonight?”

“Only if they’re unsettled by the idea of starring on nanny-cam. Rey spent all afternoon pairing it with her phone.” Her righteous swearing from the kittens’ room had made him bury his face in the crook of his arm to hide his laughter. He hadn’t wanted her to know he was listening and stop.

Hux nods approvingly. “Welcome to fatherhood, old chap.”

Ben could correct him, but the memory of Rey doting over the preparations is a welcome one. Her colorful fussing had made him want to pin her to a wall and shove his tongue down her Omega throat. Not to mention shoving other parts of himself in other places of hers, too.

“Thanks again. Rey insisted on two so they wouldn’t be lonely.”

“She’s got a good heart.” Hux’s smile fades, and he shifts as though wrestling with himself before adding, “They miss you at the college.”

Ben’s jaw goes wire-taut. “I’m sure Chancellor Palpatine doesn’t.”

“Well, no, not that withered old bag,” Armie admits amiably, “but the people who  _ actually _ mattered. The other professors and such.”

He nods. The fact that he’ll never teach again is the elephant in the room, but at least his friend is polite enough to dance around it.

Besides, mess or not, he has Rey now — and most importantly, the circumstances of his separation from Jakku College haven’t affected her finishing her education.

He’d trade far more for her than what this has cost him. A few chipped dreams are nothing compared to  _ her _ .

His Omega. His beloved.

Armie regards the house through narrowed eyes, lingering on the paint-swatched walls, the hardwood floorboards that’ve only recently been exhumed from beneath a ghastly 70s-era carpet. “Not your usual style.”

Ben shrugs. “I had to make a few concessions.”

“Did these concessions include any approximation of a bar?”

“Come on,” Ben chuckles. He slings his arm over the ginger man’s shoulders, leading him toward the kitchen. “Let’s get you nice and socially lubricated before Rose gets here.”

“Rose who?” Armie asks too quickly.

Ben shoots him a baleful look.

“I  _ guess _ she’s not a student anymore,” his friend admits grudgingly after a moment, broaching the unthinkable. After seeing what Ben’s gone through it’s understandable that he’d be gunshy, but only friends will be here tonight, no uninvited visitors. 

After so many months in quarantine, it only made sense to keep their housewarming small — and though Ben’s loath to admit it, after everything that happened at Chandrila Tower that night Poe’s gone well out of his way to make things right.

“That’s the spirit.” Ben claps Armie on the shoulder, trying to think of anything but the girl in the next bedroom, her ratty t-shirt and jeans clinging to her curves in all the best ways as she settles her twin charges into their new home. “Now let’s get you a beer.”

* * *

Rey stares dopily at Rose and Finn as they sprawl on the huge bed, until Rose wrinkles her nose at her, suspicious. “What’cha staring at, creeper?”

“I was just—” It’s probably safe; she’s fresh from the shower, her hands are clean — but still she balls them into fists, stopping herself. “I was about to grab both of you by the chin like I used to do, and I…”

She falters. She doesn’t need to finish.

“I know.” Finn picks at invisible lint on the quilt. Thank fuck she was paranoid enough to change the bedding. The scent of nearly-rutting Alpha is splashed all over the bedroom she and Ben share, but the fresh quilt has allayed the worst of it. “It’s still weird, right?”

“ _ Definitely _ ,” she and Rose answer in unwitting unison — and Rey snorts loudly.

“What the  _ fuck _ was that noise?” Finn demands, gasping with laughter, and then it’s too late. They all collapse in wheezing giggles, a dizzying mix of genuine mirth and the release of all the tension they’ve been holding since everything started. A breath they can finally let go.

Rey plops onto the stool at her vanity, not even caring that she’s still only wearing her black strapless bra and matching pantalettes. They’ve both seen her in less, and vice versa. “ _ Fuck _ , guys, I’m so glad you both could come.”

“Hell yeah, wouldn’t miss warming your house, lady,” Rose says. As her cheeks flush Rey’s reasonably sure what Rose is thinking of.

And evidently Finn does, too, because he casually adds, “Don’t worry, Rey and I won’t forget to yeet you at Professor Hux.”

“ _ Finn! _ ” Rose shrieks in outrage.

“Oh come on, it’s  _ so obvious _ ,” he snickers. “You’re almost as bad as Rey.”

“Oi!” Rey’s stomach does a backflip as she moves to perch on the side of the bed. “I  _ do _ have a motive for dragging you both up here that wasn’t dunking on my love life, y’know.”

“Ooh, subterfuge, like it already,” Finn says, far too gleeful.

Her friends pull themselves back upright, and as the three of them hunch together it’s like nothing’s changed — even though what she’s about to ask might irrevocably alter everything between them.

“So, I know you both have plans, job offers, all that, and you know how happy I am for you,” Rey begins nervously, “but let’s just say I had an, ehm, opportunity for you myself. Or ourselves, I suppose.”

Rose regards her warily. “ _ Opportunity? _ ”

“A videgame startup.”

“Oh good, those  _ always _ make money,” Finn snorts — not derisive, just disbelieving. And she can’t blame him; even as she awkwardly tries to spill it out, it sounds mad.

“Money…” She shifts, trying to choose her words carefully. “Well, for once, it’s sort of not the problem.”

“Someone hit the jackpot?” Rose asks — and there’s a seriousness under her lighthearted tone that makes Rey suspect she’s starting to get what she’s fumbling to say.

“Call it an angel investor.” A dark angel, maybe.

Finn’s brow furrows. “Wait, you mean—”

“I mean Ben … well, he sort of believes in me.” Rey admits slowly, the truth sounding so far beyond strange. “A lot.” A self-conscious laugh burbles past her lips. “That or he’s just  _ really _ mortified that it’s his fault Chancellor Palpatine saw me naked.”

“Clearly,” Rose manages, too dumbfounded to even laugh at Rey’s weak joke.

“Define  _ a lot _ ,” Finn demands, and she hunches awkwardly.

“A few mil?”

“‘A few mil,’” he snorts, cackling as Rose gapes. “Just like that.  _ A few mil! _ ”

“So…” Rey heaves a breath, fingers trembling as she laces them on her bare legs. Not even daring to hope. “So there’s the smart plan, the safe plan — or take a  _ giant _ bloody risk with me, and—”

“I’m in.”

Rose’s answer comes so fast, the words so  _ sure _ that Rey blinks at her owlishly for a long moment.

“Me, too,” Finn says with an easygoing shrug.

“You’re— I mean,  _ take a bloody minute _ , give it a proper think—” Rey chokes out.

“You’re sure about the financials?” Rose interrupts calmly, all clear-eyed prudence for someone who a minute ago was yelping about the mere  _ notion _ of hooking up with Professor Hux.

Rey nods, gnawing her lower lip.

“And we’d be autonomous?”

Another nod. Ben had been very clear on that point. Rey suspects it’s less to do with everything since they met than everything in her life that came before it, but either way she’s grateful.

“Then…” Rose shrugs, her smile sheepish. “If there’s one thing I’ve been thinking about over and over again for months, it’s to jump on opportunities. Live big while you get the chance. At least, that’s what it is for me.”

“Hell yeah, same here,” Finn chimes in. “Let’s build something sick together!”

She gapes at them, the corners of her eyes pricking painfully. Suddenly there’s a thick lump in her throat, one that refuses to be simply gulped away.

“I love you guys,” Rey mumbles, flinging her arms around their necks and hugging them tight. “I don’t deserve you.”

“You deserve lots of awesome things, sweetie.”

“Took you long enough to see it, doofus.”

Even though Rey is hugging her pals too tightly to see their faces, she gets the feeling they’re exchanging one of those hidden looks over her head — but for the first time in far too long, it feels like they might be smiling.

* * *

They’ve been unofficially living together for months already, but Ben’s breath catches in his throat as he sees Rey trot down the stairs, chatting delightedly with her friends.

She’s been so reluctant to go shopping, more than once he’s threatened to drag her to a mall — antiquated a concept as that is in this new world.

“You’re my Omega, and I say you get to have nice things!” he’d bellowed in frustration during a blow-up a couple of weeks ago, after she’d finally given up her one-bedroom place and before they’d moved in here.

“That’s not fair!” she’d snarled back, strangely incensed.

“Fair to  _ who _ , Rey?” He’d been so close to his wits’ end that all he could do was drag his hands through his hair as he stared down at her. “From where I’m standing, the world has a lot to make up to you, so if that comes in the form of me, well … sweetheart, I’m trying my damndest. And I’m not gonna stop, no matter how loud you yell.”

She’d scowled at him then, her cheeks blotched red — and he’d been grateful when she’d thrown her arms around his neck, kissing him so fiercely that the iron tang of blood traced over his tongue.

That had been the end of it — or so he’d thought.

But the dress she’s wearing now makes his heart stand still in his chest, aching with her beauty.

It’s short and black, with a poufy little skirt that stops halfway down her thighs. It looks like it’s strapless at first, but as she moves through the dappled afternoon sunshine he sees the embroidered silver stars that cover her from neck to wrist to hem, suspended on a nearly-invisible background. She’s even put a little flick of black liner at the outer corners of her eyes, making her look like an elven enchantress as she pads over to stand beside him, her ballet flats tapping the wooden floor.

“ _ Well? _ ” she demands quietly, so that no one else can hear.

“You look—” 

Ben clears his throat, licking his lips as voice threatens to crack. Usually he likes her better without clothes, but seeing her like this makes him think twice. With her minimalist makeup and her chestnut hair tumbling loose about her shoulders, she’s the most beautiful woman he’s ever seen — and the black velvet ribbon that encircles her slim throat is enough to send an electric spark down his spine. 

“God, you look …  _ fuck _ , princess—”

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” she murmurs, rising up on her toes to press her mouth to his and silence his stammering.

She tastes like peach chapstick, and the berry scent of her body lingers on his lips as she slips away.

He tries to hold back the smug smirk, but it’s too late. “So you used the credit card.”

“I used the credit card,” she echoes, her cheeks reddening as she fights a grin. “But don’t think I’m not going to pay you back.”

“Of course you will, Omega.” He slides his hand up under the back of her skirt, cupping the globe of her arse and squeezing once, hard, before releasing her.

“Ben,” she hisses — but she doesn’t flinch away, and her glossy lips are still curved in that devious smirk.

His chest aches as she returns to her friends, hips swaying underneath the dress’s short, pleated skirt. His arms are empty without her.

But he can be patient. He waited so much longer than this for her. 

He’d wait for her again.

His parents arrive with the gathering dusk, his mother seeming so small now as he swallows her in a hug, a few more crow’s feet around his dad’s eyes as they do their traditional  _ shake-hug-grin _ routine.

“Good to see you, kid,” his dad says fondly.

“You, too. How was the drive?”

Han jerks his thumb toward the driveway, where the self-driving car he gifted them has obediently parked itself behind the other guests’ vehicles. “Damn thing tried to run us off the road!”

“He means it took a few wrong turns,” his mother clarifies, her gravelly voice warm even as she rolls her eyes.

“Dad, I told you that might happen,” Ben sighs. “The AI’s adaptive, they’re still working out the kinks—”

“Yeah, well, as long as Elon doesn’t have a  _ kink _ for driving us off a pier,” his dad says entirely too loudly — and on the far side of the living room, Rey snorts with laughter, watching as Han stabs Ben’s chest with an accusing forefinger. “You tell ’im I said that.”

“Dad, I’m not friends with Elon Musk,” Ben explains for at least the eleventh time.

His mom pats his arm. “You two have fun bickering, I’m going to go see my daughter.”

Ben can’t even protest — a golden glow is shimmering through his chest. He simply watches as his mother hurries across the room to embrace Rey.

He can feel his father glancing between them. “So that’s how it is with you and Rey, huh? Done deal?”

Ben turns to look at his old man, but he’s smiling, that mischievous glint in his hazel eyes. “Yeah.”

“You propose yet?”

He shakes his head. She should enjoy every step, the bright little Omega who’s helping him make this place a home. There’s no rush. “Soon.”

God knows they’ve had their differences in the past, but as his father squeezes his shoulder and offers a gruff, “Congratulations, kid,” he’s never loved the old grump more.

Then Han’s eyes narrow, and he jerks his craggy chin. “What’re they up to?”

He’s right, there’s something furtive in the way Leia and Rey are talking — and Ben’s Omega locks her dark amber gaze with his long enough to offer a half-abashed shrug. Then the women slip out the side door, the one that leads to the porch, Rose close behind.

“I’m pretty sure they’re gonna go smoke up.”

“Oh shit.” Han’s face goes blank with panic, and he raises his voice: “Wait up!”

The old man ambles after the runaways as fast as his arthritic knees can carry him — and Rey’s gaze finds Ben again as she holds the door for Han, stirring him with a coy, flirty smile as the late spring warmth steals into the house, filling it with new life.

* * *

Finally the last of the goodbye hugs are exchanged — arms wrapped around each other tight, everyone holding each other a bit harder, a bit longer than before. Anxious as Rey is to be alone with Ben again, every touch is savored, every press of loving hands more precious as she bids her friends farewell.

“I’ll be off the grid for a bit,” she tells Rose, and her friend nods knowingly. Professor Hux is lingering in the driveway, his copper hair flashing in the porch light, and Rey bites her lower lip to stifle a smirk. “You know he’s an Alpha, right?”

“I know what I’m getting myself into,” Rose mutters — and Rey grins to see her pal glowing with a radiant blush. “Now get in there, tiger.”

Rey salutes jauntily. “Same to you, miss.”

The front door closes with a soft thump, and she hurries to check on the kittens. It’s been nearly impossible holding herself back to give them space and let them settle in, but watching them on the app has been reassuring.

To her utter delight they’ve bedded down in the fleece hammock, eyes shut and full bellies heaving with their soft breaths. One black, one orange, both of them nuzzling mindlessly into her fingertips as she caresses their tufted fur.

“Welcome home, darlings,” she murmurs before tiptoeing out.

Ben’s been bumping around in the kitchen — putting away leftovers, probably — but he emerges from the kitchen at the same time as she closes the kittens’ bedroom door.  _ Beebee and Niima _ . He’ll probably give her that wry look over the tops of his glasses when she tells him she’s naming them after characters from  _ Starkiller _ , but deep down she knows he’ll be pleased.

Ben moves to the front door — and there’s something about the firm way he locks it that makes her hackles prickle with warning.

His eyes are dark with lust as he turns to face her.

_ Alpha _ .

Rey’s eyes drop to the line of strained buttons that trace down the front of his white shirt. She knows what lies underneath — and deeper still, she can sense the way he’s coming awake, the emergency blockers gasping their last.

“We can do this one of two ways,” he rumbles ominously.

She knows that. It’s why she’s already kicked off her ballet flats.

Rey darts for the side door, giggles of terrified exhilaration welling up in her chest as she hears the huge man come charging after her. Leia and Han probably just thought she was fussing with the potted plants on the deck as they blazed — but now she’s grateful they’re all safely out of the way, as she tears out into the warm night and leaps down into the dewy grass.

She gets halfway across the back lawn before he tackles her, trapping her to him and dragging her down to the forgiving ground between the raised beds. She squirms, but he’s already on her, pinning her wrists over her head and dragging her body beneath him.

“Hard way it is,” he rasps as he settles himself between her thighs, seemingly impervious to her attempts at rebellion. “Trying to run away from me again?”

“No, Daddy,” she pants, yanking vainly at the scalding manacle of his fingers.

“Better not be.” Fabric tugs at Rey’s hips as her Alpha pulls the crotch of her pantalettes aside — and his hot, thick fingers are at her  _ there _ , pushing three knuckles deep and forcing a groan through her throat. “Fuck, you’re so ready for me.”

“Not out here,” she begs in a ragged whisper as he starts to work her. He stares down at her body like he’s fascinated by her undulating movements, but she can’t help herself. Her mating gland is pressing into the velvet collar, refusing to be hidden any longer. “P-Please — the neighbors—”

“You don’t want them to hear your pathetic whines?” He curls his fingers, finding a spot that makes her arch her spine with need. “Poor little Omega, can’t help herself…”

She twists her head to and fro, choking back wanton sobs as his thumb settles on the hood of her clit, drawing it back and soaking her with her own nectar.

“Alpha, I’m begging you—”

“If I agree to take you inside, you’re going to stay quiet for me, aren’t you?” he asks, his harsh voice a perverse counterpoint to the tender way he’s stroking her inner walls, twisting another finger into her as she mewls.

Rey manages a shaky nod.

“Because if you don’t, wherever we are, I’m going to throw you down and fuck you right there.” His fingers glide in and out of her in an awful rhythm, one she knows will bring her to the edge. “And I don’t care how much the neighbors hear or see. Got it?”

“Yes, Daddy,” she murmurs.

Then the world’s spinning, the damp grass vanishing as Ben grunts, lifting her and throwing her over his shoulder, carrying her back into the house they share. Only the crickets are there to witness the moment when her dear abductor shuts the door, locking it for the night like all its companions.

Then they’re alone.

* * *

Ben’s cock is already weeping precum into his boxer briefs as he carries Rey up the stairs. One of his arms has her securely pinned about her thighs, and he’s managed to keep her limp and pliant by filling her with his fingers again, thrusting into her soaking channel with each step.

“You’re such a demanding little thing.” A thoroughly untrue accusation, which is why it’s so fun to say now, as they’re playing; her outrage is delicious. Rey takes up roughly the same amount of space as a mouse, and day by day he feels like he’s coaxing her out of some invisible shell. “Begging to get used by your Alpha in this tiny skirt … did you really think I’d be able to stop myself?”

“No,” she begs softly, but her hips rock beside his ear, meeting his advances as he finger-fucks her. “You’re just a horny monster.”

She’s always so drenched for him. Such a perfect, willing victim, her twisted tastes a match for his own. Her hunger his mirror equal. 

“Damn right I am.”

His stomach lurches in delight at her shriek as he kicks the bedroom door shut behind them. He lets her slide down the front of his body, pinning her against the side of the bed with his hips.

“Screaming won’t help you, babygirl. And neither will this.”

He rips the velvet courting ribbon from her neck, burying his free hand in her hair and tilting her head back to bare her throat. Her mating gland is there, swollen with need for him — and she shivers against his chest as he runs his tongue over the rosy scar, fitting his teeth to her again and sealing his lips to her skin.

“Daddy—”

She breaks off with a wordless cry, sagging into him as he bears down, her gland popping under his clenching jaw.

_ My Omega. My Rey. Mine. _

He boosts her to sit on the side of the bed, dragging his glasses from his face and tossing them aside as she leans into him. She’s boneless from the ingrained impulses, responding drunkenly as he wraps her arms around his shoulders.

“Daddy,” she mumbles, and his stomach flips at the breathy hunger in her voice. “Mm … fuck…”

Ben unfastens his pants, shoving the waistband of his boxers down to free his erection as he tongues her gland, drinking in her hormone-rich nectar. He’s dripping for her, twitching at every sigh — and her pantalettes are no match for his fingers, the thin fabric ripping open like tissue paper.

“No,” Rey pleads as he rubs his cockhead through her folds, spreading her essence over both of them.

“Just give in, baby,” he murmurs, lapping at her gland in short, wet stripes. He notches himself into her and catches her arse in his hands, dragging her forward and spearing her on him. His blood thrills with lust at her aching cry. “That’s right…”

She breathes shallowly, full of him as he undoes the clever buttons on her dress and drags it off over her head. The strapless bra surrenders easily, and he carefully frees her thighs from the shredded panties.

Then she’s naked, the hard peaks of her nipples digging into his shirt, her glistening pink crease wrapped around the base of his cock.

This was how it was supposed to be. How it _ should’ve _ been, from their very first time.

He guides her face to his neck with trembling fingers. “Your turn, princess.”

Rey kisses his gland and he throbs in her belly, charming a sigh from her soft lips — but her bite is savage, making him stiffen against her with a groan.

“ _ Fuck _ ,” he snarls, but it’s  _ everything. _

His Omega clings to him, half-feral as he drags her up onto the bed, settling her against the pillows and holding her down with his hips. The thing he’s looking for is just there, hidden beyond the head of the bed.

She’d been so distracted kitten-proofing that it had been easy to do a little of his own.

The padded collar clicks shut around her neck, and she pulls back with a howl, stormy-eyed with astonishment, but it’s too late.

She’s his prisoner.

* * *

Rey scrambles back against the headboard, her bare back slamming into the wood as she traces the unmistakable outlines of the collar and trail of metal links with her fingertips.

“You chained me to your  _ bed? _ ” she shrieks in delight, trying not to grin as her heart thuds against her ribs.

It’s so unbelievably  _ hot _ .

How the fuck did he have time to do this? Evidently her beloved Professor still has a few secrets.

He walks his knees backward, easing off the bed and standing there, lips quirked in that cruel, crooked grin as he languidly unfastens his button-down. His white undershirt highlights the hard lines of his muscles, and she swallows back her drool as she stares at his broken mating gland, trying to look furious instead of thirsty.

_ My Alpha. Mine. _

_ Holy fuck. _

“I can keep you here as long as I want, pet,” he purrs as she tugs fruitlessly at the chain. However he’s secured this thing, she isn’t going anywhere — and his hands lash out, finding her ankles and yanking her down on the bed. His thumbs draw sultry circles over the glands in the soles of her feet. “The only question is whether I want to let you fight me right now.”

Rey’s tempted to ask him to bite her, to feel that paralytic bliss unfurling through her limbs — but that can wait for another time.

Instead she kicks free of Ben’s grip, anticipation lancing through her as he vaults up onto the bed again, caging her body down and catching the chain in his hand.

“Guess that answers  _ that _ .”

He holds the leash firmly, putting just enough pressure on the collar around her neck to keep her still — but it isn’t wide enough to hide her gland from him. He nuzzles into the curve of her neck, resettling his teeth against her skin as he pushes his khakis and boxers down to his mid-thighs.

“You’re not even going to take your pants off?” Rey whispers as his weight presses her into the mattress. “You  _ brute! _ ”

His eyes are luminous with Alpha need, wild and primal. She loves it. Loves  _ him _ .

She always will.

He pushes into her, rock-hard where she’s soft and wet, straining into her so that she clings to him. Her breath hitches as he bottoms out, and she sinks into the searing pleasure, losing herself in his seductive cadence as he starts to move.

His mouthwatering aroma is everywhere, tingling against her skin as he rubs his weeping mating gland over her body, scenting her.

“No,” she pleads, meaning exactly the opposite. 

_ Don’t stop _ —  _ don’t ever stop fucking me, don’t ever stop loving me…  _

“Daddy’s gonna protect you, princess,” he rumbles, snapping his hips as he quickens, splintering her to her core. “No one gets to fuck you from now on but me.”

“Knot me,” she begs. Her lips stumble against his, pleading with his as he caresses her hair, her breasts, her hips. “Alpha … Daddy …  _ Ben _ …”

“I will, sweetheart. I promise.” His voice is husky with longing, and he kisses her jaw with an unbearable tenderness, his intrusions becoming harsher as the edge nears. “Tell me that you need me and I’ll give you a nice big knot to start your heat.”

“ _ Fuck _ , Daddy, I need you,” she begs. “I love you.”

“I love you, too, Reyling,” he murmurs. “We belong to each other. Now. Always.”

“Yes,” Rey breathes, overcome with love — and then she’s falling apart, dissolving into stars, into rapture, into him.

She’s home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will probably be afk having myself a hearty blub for a bit, but I can’t wait to hear what you think of _Daddy’s Knot_ now that it’s done!!
> 
> If you need something else to jump into, the 🖤Library of Els🖤 awaits (WIPs at the bottom, all others are complete!):
> 
> ⋇⋆✦⋆⋇ **SHORTIES** ⋇⋆✦⋆⋇
> 
> **Unabashed Crack**
> 
>   * [Last Egg-Void Tonight](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27590822) (1.2K words) John Oliver/Adam Driver fanfic
> 

> 
> **Scorching Shorts (Rated E)**
> 
>   * [Beside the Lake](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22656958) (~3K words) Alt Canonverse, Pregnancy/HEA, Sweet
>   * [Feed the Beast](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27252910) (4.5K words) Monsterfucking, Magical Academy AU, Anal
>   * [Cindereyla](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22715353) (5K words) Valentine’s Day, Size Kink, Sweet
>   * [Miss Johnson & the Professor](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22468996) (8K words) Professor/Student, Bedsharing, Pregnancy/HEA
>   * [Dreaming Ben Solo](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24572977/chapters/59345956) (8.5K words) Canonverse, Force Bond, Sweet
>   * [The Fall of the New Republic](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26667781) (9K words) Senator Rey/Butler Ben, Ageswap, Sweet
> 

> 
> **Darkfic Shorts (Rated E)**
> 
>   * [(Don’t) Leave the Porch Light On](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24540502) (~7K words) Noncon/Dominant Ben, A/B/O, Loss of Virginity 
>   * [Thickly Sown With Thorns, or, Sleeping Beauty](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24860872/chapters/60143155) (~9K words) Noncon/Dominant Rey, Force Bond, Somnophilia
>   * [Amortentia: The Love that Binds](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24025063/chapters/57803374) (23.2K words) Dubcon, BDSM, Room of Requirement
> 

> 
> ✧༺♥༻✧ **LONGER WORKS** ✧༺♥༻✧
> 
> 🖤 **  
> [Episode IX: The Fall of Skywalker](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27821176/chapters/68111416)  
> ** (45.5K words) Canonverse, Screenplay, Dyad  
>  _The ending to the Skywalker Saga that we collectively deserved — a tale of mythic return and the final stand of both Dark and Light._
> 
> ★・・・ **ONGOING** ・・・★
> 
> ❤️ **  
> [Craving Kylo](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14951468/chapters/34645847)  
> ** Obsession, BDSM, Shibari/Kinbaku, Billionaire/Sugar Baby  
>  _A dark, BDSM dubcon fic in a Beauty and the Beast- or FSOG-style AU._
> 
> 🌘 **  
> [Make Me Your Villain](https://archiveofourown.org/works/29251797/chapters/71828862)  
> ** Darkfic/Noncon, A/B/O, Grishaverse crossover  
>  _In which Reylina Starkov, a scavenger, encounters the Darkling, General Ren._

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! You can usually find me lurking in one of these flaming dumpsters:  
> \+ [Twitter](https://twitter.com/ElegyGoldsmith)  
> \+ [Tumblr](https://elegygoldsmith.tumblr.com/)  
> \+ [Instagram](https://instagram.com/elegygoldsmith/)  
> \+ [CuriousCat](https://curiouscat.me/ElegyGoldsmith)


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